gorgeous
- 1Strikingly beautiful and very pleasing to look at.
The view from the mountain summit was gorgeous, with valleys stretching to the horizon.
Critics praised the film's gorgeous cinematography and its painterly use of color.
Similarbeautiful, stunning, lovely, breathtaking, magnificent
Oppositeugly, hideous, unattractive
Note
Here the beauty is no longer something put on. The word praises a face, a sunset or a landscape. Because it already sits near the top of the scale, it readily takes the strongest intensifiers: absolutely gorgeous, and the fixed phrase drop-dead gorgeous. Unlike the finely dressed meaning, the splendor belongs to the person or place itself, not to what they wear.
- 2Dressed in rich, splendid, and elaborate clothing.
The courtiers stood gorgeous in velvet and gold along the length of the palace hall.
She entered the ballroom gorgeous in an embroidered silk gown.
Similarresplendent, splendid, magnificent, dazzling
Note
Dress is where the word's own history points. Old French gorgias meant "gaudy, flaunting, fine," and seems to be tied to gorgias, a ruffle for the neck, from gorge, "throat." A hint of showiness lingers. Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi (1883) calls men in silk hats, diamond breastpins and patent-leather boots "the gorgeous ones," setting them against the loosely clad. The phrase is admiring, but it smiles.
- 3Highly enjoyable, pleasant, or delicious.
The soup was absolutely gorgeous, rich with herbs and slow-cooked beef.
They spent a gorgeous afternoon lazing by the river with nowhere to be.
Similardelicious, lovely, wonderful, delightful, glorious
Oppositeawful, horrible, dreadful
Note
The praise leaves the eye for the tongue, or for an afternoon well spent. It is an uncommon use. Since most listeners expect the "beautiful" meaning, it works best when the context plainly concerns taste or pleasure. A dish, a meal or a lazy day can be gorgeous, and nobody will think you mean its looks.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of gorgeous apart? Answer 2 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This comes from Middle English gorgeouse, borrowed from Middle French gorgias ("elegant, fashionable") and Old French gorgias ("gaudy, flaunting, fine"). Its origin is uncertain, but it seems connected to Old French gorgias ("a gorget, a ruffle for the neck") and gorge ("throat, bosom"), with the meaning perhaps shifting from a swelling of pride to flaunting an air of importance.