Adjacent Words

Style definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STYLE, n. [L., Gr., a column, a pen or bodkin; from the root of the Teutonic stellen, to set or place.]
1. Manner of writing with regard to language, or the choice and arrangement of words; as a harsh style; a dry style; a tumid or bombastic style; a loose style; a terse style; a laconic or verbose style; a flowing style; a lofty style; an elegant style; an epistolary style. The character of style depends chiefly on a happy selection and arrangement of words.
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of style.
Let some lord but own the happy lines, how the wit brightens and the style refines!
2. Manner of speaking appropriate to particular characters; or in general, the character of the language used.
Not style is held for base, where love well named is.
According to the usual style of dedications.
So we say, a person addresses another in a style of haughtiness, in a style or rebuke.
3. Mode of painting; any manner of painting which is characteristic or peculiar.
The ornamental style also possesses its own peculiar merit.
4. A particular character of music; as a grave style.
5. Title; appellation; as the style of majesty.
Propitious hear our prayr, whether the style of Titan please thee more--
6. Course of writing. [Not in use.]
7. Style of court, is properly the practice observed by any court in its way of proceeding.
8. In popular use, manner; form; as, the entertainment was prepared in excellent style.
9. A pointed instrument formerly used in writing on tables of wax; an instrument of surgery.
10. Something with a sharp point; a graver; the pin of a dial; written also stile.
11. In botany, the middle portion of the pistil, connecting the stigma with the germ; sometimes called the shaft. The styles of plants are capillary, filiform, cylindric, subulate, or clavate.
12. In chronology, a mode of reckoning time, with regard to the Julian and Gregorian calendar. Style is Old or New. The Old Style follows the Julian manner of computing the months and days, or the calendar as established by Julius Cesar, in which the year consists of 365 days and 6 hours. This is something more than 11 minutes too much, and in the course of time, between Cesar and pope Gregory XIII, this surplus amounted to 11 days. Gregory reformed the calendar by retrenching 11 days; this reformation was adopted by act of parliament in Great Britain in 1751, by which act eleven days in September, 1752 were retrenched, and the 3rd day was reckoned the 14th. This mode of reckoning is called New Style.
STYLE, v.t. To call; to name; to denominate; to give a title to in addressing. The emperor of Russia is styled autocrat; the king of Great Britain is styled defender of the faith.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: how something is done or how it happens; "her dignified manner"; "his rapid manner of talking"; "their nomadic mode of existence"; "in the characteristic New York style"; "a lonely way of life"; "in an abrasive fashion" [syn: manner, mode, style, way, fashion]
2: a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period; "all the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper" [syn: expressive style, style]
3: a particular kind (as to appearance); "this style of shoe is in demand"
4: the popular taste at a given time; "leather is the latest vogue"; "he followed current trends"; "the 1920s had a style of their own" [syn: vogue, trend, style]
5: (botany) the narrow elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma
6: editorial directions to be followed in spelling and punctuation and capitalization and typographical display
7: distinctive and stylish elegance; "he wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer" [syn: dash, elan, flair, panache, style]
8: a pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving; "he drew the design on the stencil with a steel stylus" [syn: stylus, style]
9: a slender bristlelike or tubular process; "a cartilaginous style" v
1: designate by an identifying term; "They styled their nation `The Confederate States'" [syn: style, title]
2: make consistent with a certain fashion or style; "Style my hair"; "style the dress"
3: make consistent with certain rules of style; "style a manuscript"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English stile, style, from Latin stilus spike, stem, stylus, style of writing; perhaps akin to Latin instigare to goad — more at stick Date: 14th century 1. designation, title 2. a. a distinctive manner of expression (as in writing or speech) <writes with more attention to style than to content> <the flowery style of 18th century prose> b. a distinctive manner or custom of behaving or conducting oneself <the formal style of the court> <his style is abrasive>; also a particular mode of living <in high style> c. a particular manner or technique by which something is done, created, or performed <a unique style of horseback riding> <the classical style of dance> 3. a. stylus b. gnomon 1b c. the filiform usually elongated part of the pistil bearing a stigma at its apex — see flower illustration d. a slender elongated process (as a bristle) on an animal 4. a distinctive quality, form, or type of something <a new dress style> <the Greek style of architecture> 5. a. the state of being popular ; fashion <clothes that are always in style> b. fashionable elegance c. beauty, grace, or ease of manner or technique <an awkward moment she handled with style> 6. a convention with respect to spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and typographic arrangement and display followed in writing or printing Synonyms: see fashion • styleless adjective • stylelessness noun II. transitive verb (styled; styling) Date: circa 1580 1. to call or designate by an identifying term ; name 2. a. to give a particular style to b. to design, make, or arrange in accord with the prevailing mode • styler noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a kind or sort, esp. in regard to appearance and form (an elegant style of house). 2 a manner of writing or speaking or performing (written in a florid style; started off in fine style). 3 the distinctive manner of a person or school or period, esp. in relation to painting, architecture, furniture, dress, etc. 4 the correct way of designating a person or thing. 5 a a superior quality or manner (do it in style). b = FORM n. 9 (bad style). 6 a particular make, shape, or pattern (in all sizes and styles). 7 a method of reckoning dates (old style; new style). 8 a an ancient writing-implement, a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on wax-covered tablets and a blunt end for obliterating them. b a thing of a similar shape esp. for engraving, tracing, etc. 9 the gnomon of a sundial. 10 Bot. the narrow extension of the ovary supporting the stigma. 11 (in comb.) = -WISE. --v.tr. 1 design or make etc. in a particular (esp. fashionable) style. 2 designate in a specified way. Derivatives: styleless adj. stylelessness n. styler n. Etymology: ME f. OF stile, style f. L stilus: spelling style due to assoc. with Gk stulos column

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Style Style, n. [OE. stile, F. style, Of. also stile, L. stilus a style or writing instrument, manner or writing, mode of expression; probably for stiglus, meaning, a pricking instrument, and akin to E. stick. See Stick, v. t., and cf. Stiletto. The spelling with y is due to a supposed connection with Gr. ? a pillar.] 1. An instrument used by the ancients in writing on tablets covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of making erasures by smoothing the wax. 2. Hence, anything resembling the ancient style in shape or use. Specifically: (a) A pen; an author's pen. --Dryden. (b) A sharp-pointed tool used in engraving; a graver. (c) A kind of blunt-pointed surgical instrument. (d) (Zo["o]l.) A long, slender, bristlelike process, as the anal styles of insects. (e) [Perhaps fr. Gr. ? a pillar.] The pin, or gnomon, of a dial, the shadow of which indicates the hour. See Gnomon. (f) [Probably fr. Gr. ? a pillar.] (Bot.) The elongated part of a pistil between the ovary and the stigma. See Illust. of Stamen, and of Pistil. 3. Mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or written; especially, such use of language in the expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression. High style, as when that men to kinges write. --Chaucer. Style is the dress of thoughts. --Chesterfield. Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style. --Swift. It is style alone by which posterity will judge of a great work. --I. Disraeli. 4. Mode of presentation, especially in music or any of the fine arts; a characteristic of peculiar mode of developing in idea or accomplishing a result. The ornamental style also possesses its own peculiar merit. --Sir J. Reynolds. 5. Conformity to a recognized standard; manner which is deemed elegant and appropriate, especially in social demeanor; fashion. According to the usual style of dedications. --C. Middleton. 6. Mode or phrase by which anything is formally designated; the title; the official designation of any important body; mode of address; as, the style of Majesty. One style to a gracious benefactor, another to a proud, insulting foe. --Burke. 7. (Chron.) A mode of reckoning time, with regard to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Note: Style is Old or New. The Old Style follows the Julian manner of computing the months and days, or the calendar as established by Julius C[ae]sar, in which every fourth year consists of 366 days, and the other years of 365 days. This is about 11 minutes in a year too much. Pope Georgy XIII. reformed the calendar by retrenching 10 days in October, 1582, in order to bring back the vernal equinox to the same day as at the time of the Council of Nice, a. d. 325. This reformation was adopted by act of the British Parliament in 1751, by which act 11 days in September, 1752, were retrenched, and the third day was reckoned the fourteenth. This mode of reckoning is called New Style, according to which every year divisible by 4, unless it is divisible by 100 without being divisible by 400, has 366 days, and any other year 365 days. Style of court, the practice or manner observed by a court in its proceedings. --Ayliffe. Syn: Diction; phraseology; manner; course; title. See Diction.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Style Style, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Styled; p. pr. & vb. n. Styling.] To entitle; to term, name, or call; to denominate. ``Styled great conquerors.'' --Milton. How well his worth and brave adventures styled. --Dryden. Syn: To call; name; denominate; designate; term; characterize.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(styles, styling, styled) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. The style of something is the general way in which it is done or presented, which often shows the attitudes of the people involved. Our children's different needs and learning styles created many problems... Belmont Park is a broad sweeping track which will suit the European style of running... N-COUNT: with supp, also in adj N 2. If people or places have style, they are smart and elegant. Bournemouth, you have to admit, has style... Both love doing things in style... She had not lost her grace and style. N-UNCOUNT: oft in N 3. The style of a product is its design. His 50 years of experience have given him strong convictions about style... Several styles of hat were available. N-VAR 4. In the arts, a particular style is characteristic of a particular period or group of people. ...six scenes in the style of a classical Greek tragedy. ...a mixture of musical styles. N-COUNT: usu with supp 5. If something such as a piece of clothing, a vehicle, or someone's hair is styled in a particular way, it is designed or shaped in that way. His thick blond hair had just been styled before his trip. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed 6. see also old-style, self-styled, styling 7. to cramp someone's style: see cramp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Diction, phraseology, mode of expression, mode of speech, turn of expression, manner of writing. 2. Manner, method, mode, way, form, fashion, cast, pattern. 3. Title, appellation, name, designation, denomination, mode of address. 4. Gnomon (of a dial), pin. 5. Stylus. 6. Graver or etching-needle. II. v. a. Denominate, name, designate, call, term, dub, christen, characterize, entitle.

Moby Thesaurus

Bauhaus, Byzantine, Corinthian, Dadaism, Doric, Egyptian, English, Fauvism, French, German, Gothic, Gothicism, Greco-Roman, Greek, Greek Revival, Ionic, Italian, MO, Moorish, Persian, Platonic form, Platonic idea, Renaissance, Roman, Romanesque, Spanish, Tuscan, ability, abstract expressionism, abstractionism, academic, action, action painting, actions, activity, acts, address, adeptness, adroitness, aesthetic form, affectation, affinity, air, airmanship, algorithm, androecium, angle, anther, apparel, appellation, appellative, approach, archetype, area, arrange, array, art form, art nouveau, artfulness, artisanship, artistry, aspect, attack, attire, background, background detail, bag, baptize, baroque, bearing, bedizenment, behavior, behavior pattern, behavioral norm, behavioral science, bent, bias, bilge, binomen, binomial name, blain, bleb, blister, blob, blood, bon ton, boss, bow, brand, bravura, breed, brilliance, bubble, build, bulb, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, burin, burl, button, byword, cachet, cahot, call, calyx, capability, capacity, carpel, carriage, cast, category, character, characteristic, characterize, chic, chine, chosen kind, christen, clan, classicalism, classicism, cleverness, cloisonnism, clothes, clothing, clump, cognomen, color, coloring, comfort, command, command of language, competence, complexion, comportment, conceive, conceptual art, conduct, condyle, configuration, conformation, constructivism, control, convention, conventionalism, convex, coordination, corolla, corolla tube, corona, cosmopolitanism, costume, couch, couch in terms, course, craft, craftsmanship, craze, cryptonym, cubism, culture pattern, cunning, cup of tea, custom, cut, dash, decorative composition, decorative style, define, deftness, demeanor, denominate, denomination, deportment, description, design, designate, designation, detail, dexterity, dexterousness, dextrousness, diction, die, diplomacy, do, doing, doings, dowel, drapery, dress, dressing, druthers, dub, duds, ear, early renaissance, earth art, effect, efficiency, eidolon, elan, elegance, elementarism, embody in words, empty title, engraving tool, entitle, epicalyx, epithet, eponym, etching ball, etching ground, etching needle, etching point, euonym, exaggeration, existentialism, expertise, express, expression of ideas, expressionism, facet, facility, fad, fancy, fashion, fashionableness, fatigues, favor, feather, feathers, feature, feeling for words, field, fig, figuration, figure, finesse, flair, flange, flap, foil, folkway, foreground detail, form, form of speech, format, formation, formularize, formulate, forte, frame, free abstraction, futurism, gall, garb, garments, gear, genre, genus, gestalt, gestures, give expression to, give words to, gnarl, goings-on, grace, grace of expression, grain, grandiloquence, graver, grip, guise, gynoecium, habiliment, habit, hallucinatory painting, handiness, handle, haute couture, high fashion, hill, honorific, horsemanship, hump, hunch, hyponym, idealism, identify, idiosyncrasy, ilk, image, imago, impression, impressionism, in style, inclination, inflation, ingeniousness, ingenuity, inner form, intaglio, international, intimism, intuitionism, investiture, investment, jog, joggle, kidney, kin, kind, kinetic art, knob, knot, know-how, knur, knurl, label, language, latest thing, layout, leaning, light, likeness, line, line of action, lineaments, linear chromatism, linen, lines, lip, literary style, long suit, look, loop, lot, lump, luxury, main interest, maintien, make, makeup, manner, manner of speaking, manner of working, mannerism, manners, mark, marksmanship, mastership, mastery, matrix, matter painting, means, medieval, megasporophyll, method, methodology, methods, metier, microsporophyll, mien, minimal art, modality, mode, mode of expression, mode of operation, mode of procedure, model, modern, modernism, modus operandi, modus vivendi, mold, mole, moniker, mood, motif, motions, mountain, movement, movements, moves, mysticism, name, namesake, national style, naturalism, nature, needle, neoclassicism, neoconcrete art, neoconstructivism, nevus, nickname, nomen, nomen nudum, nominate, nonobjectivism, nuagism, nub, nubbin, nubble, number, observable behavior, op art, opulence, order, ornamental motif, panache, papilloma, paragraph, partiality, particular choice, pattern, peculiarity, peg, pencil, perianth, period, period style, personal choice, personal style, persuasion, pet subject, petal, phase, phasis, photomontage, phrase, phraseology, phrasing, phylum, pistil, poetic realism, poetic tachism, point, pointillism, poise, polish, port, pose, postexpressionism, posture, practical ability, practice, praxis, predilection, predisposition, preference, preimpressionism, prejudice, prepossession, presence, present, prevailing taste, primitivism, procedure, proceeding, process, proclivity, proficiency, proper name, proper noun, proper thing, prototype, prowess, punch, purism, pursuit, put, put in words, quality, quickness, quietistic painting, race, rage, rags, raiment, readiness, realism, receptacle, reference, refinement, regard, repeated figure, representationalism, representationism, resource, resourcefulness, respect, rhetoric, rhetorize, rib, ridge, ring, ritziness, robes, rocker, romanticism, routine, savoir-faire, savvy, school, scientific name, scorper, seal, seamanship, secret name, seeming, semblance, sense of language, set, set out, setting, shape, shoulder, side, significant form, simulacrum, skill, skillfulness, slant, smartness, social science, sophistication, sort, specialism, speciality, specialization, specialty, species, specify, spine, spirit, splendor, sportswear, stamen, stamp, state, stigma, strain, stream of fashion, stripe, strong point, structure, stud, stylish, stylishness, stylistic analysis, stylistics, suprematism, surrealism, swim, symbolism, synchromism, synthesism, system, tab, tachism, tack, tact, tactfulness, tactics, tag, tailor, taste, tastefulness, tautonym, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill, technicality, technique, tendency, tenor, term, the drill, the grand style, the how, the like of, the likes of, the plain style, the sublime, the way of, theme, thing, threads, timing, title, togs, toilette, tone, torus, total effect, touch, traditionalism, trait, treatment, trend, tribe, trick, trim, trinomen, trinomial name, tubercle, tubercule, turn, twig, twist, type, unism, variety, vein, verruca, vesicle, vestment, vesture, view, viewpoint, virtuosity, vocabulary, vocation, vogue, vorticism, wale, wart, way, way of life, ways, weakness, wear, wearing apparel, welt, wise, wit, wizardry, word, wording, workmanship