gracious
adjective
Simple meaning
Kind, polite and generous, especially to guests.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
grayshuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹeɪʃəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Full of grace; graceful; charming; elegant (in appearance, conduct, movement)
Kind and warmly courteous
Compassionate
Magnanimous, without arrogance or complaint, benevolently declining to raise controversy or insist on possible prerogatives.
Benignant
Indulgent
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Full of grace; graceful; charming; elegant (in appearance, conduct, movement)
Used this way, gracious is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Gracious is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use gracious
- “Gracious even to unexpected visitors.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
In a gracious or graceful manner.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
Sense: full of grace
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.