Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.
- noun A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.
- noun A sense of fitness or propriety.
- noun A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.
- noun Mercy; clemency.
- noun A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.
- noun A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.
- noun Greek & Roman Mythology Three sister goddesses, known in Greek mythology as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who dispense charm and beauty.
- noun Divine favor bestowed freely on people, as in granting redemption from sin.
- noun The state of having received such favor.
- noun An excellence or power granted by God.
- noun A short prayer of blessing or thanksgiving said before or after a meal.
- noun Used with His, Her, or Your as a title and form of address for a duke, duchess, or archbishop.
- noun Music An appoggiatura, trill, or other musical ornament in the music of 16th and 17th century England.
- transitive verb To honor or favor.
- transitive verb To give beauty, elegance, or charm to.
- transitive verb Music To embellish with grace notes.
- idiom (in the bad graces of) Out of favor with.
- idiom (in the good graces of) In favor with.
- idiom (with bad grace) In a grudging manner.
- idiom (with good grace) In a willing manner.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To adorn; decorate; embellish and dignify; lend or add grace to.
- To confer grace or favor upon; afford pleasure or gratification to.
- To dignify or gratify by an act of favor; favor or honor (with something).
- To supply with heavenly grace.
- In music, to add grace-notes, cadenzas, etc., to: as, to
grace a melody. - noun A bow or courtesy.
- noun That element or quality of form, manner, movement, carriage, deportment, language, etc., which renders it pleasing or agreeable; elegance or beauty of form, outline, manner, motion, or act; pleasing harmony or appropriateness; that quality in a thing or an act which charms or delights: as, to move with easy grace.
- noun plural [capitalized] In classical mythology, the goddesses of the beauty, brightness, and joy in nature and humanity. The Graces are the Charites of the Greeks, variously described as daughters of Helios (the Sun) and Aigle (heavenly brightness), or of Zeus (Jupiter) and Eurynome (daughter of Ocean —the Aurora). They were also variously named, but their most familiar names are Aglaϊa(the brilliant), Euphrosyne(cheerfulness), and Thalia (the bloom of life). They had in their gift grace, loveliness, and favor, and were attendants in the train of Aphrodite.
- noun Amenity of disposition or manner; sweetness or amiability; graciousness; politeness; courtesy; civility: as, to yield with good grace.
- noun plural A kind of play or game designed to exhibit or develop easy gracefulness in motion. One player, by means of two sticks held one in each hand. throws a small hoop to another, who endeavors to catch it on two similar sticks, and then to throw it back in the same way.
- noun A pleasing and attractive quality or endowment; beauty; adornment; embellishment.
- noun In music, an embellishment, whether vocal or instrumental, not essential to the harmony or melody of a piece, such as an appoggiatura, a trill, a turn, etc. Such embellishments were much more common in music for the harpsichord and the viol than they are for modern instruments; their exact form and even the place of their introduction were often left in the eighteenth century to the taste of the performer.
- noun Favor; good will; friendship; favorable disposition to another; favorable regard: as, to be in one′ s good graces; to reign by the grace of God.
- noun An act of kindness or favor accorded to or bestowed on another; a good turn or service freely rendered.
- noun A faculty, license, or dispensation bestowed by legal authority, the granting of which rests in discretion or favor, and is not to be asked as of right; a privilege; also, in English law, a general and free pardon by act of Parliament. Also called
act of grace . - noun In Scrip, and theology: The free, unmerited love and favor of God: as, the doctrine of grace (that is, the doctrine that all things, including salvation, are received from God as a free gift, and not merited or earned by man).
- noun The enjoyment of the favor of God.
- noun Benefit, especially inward spiritual gifts, conferred by God through Christ Jesus; specifically, power or disposition to yield obedience to the divine laws, to practise the Christian virtues, and to bear trouble or affliction with patience and resignation: as, grace to perform a duty, or to bear up under an affliction.
- noun Virtue; power; efficacy.
- noun Share of favor allotted to one; lot; fortune; luck.
- noun Mercy; pardon.
- noun Indulgence; forbearance; allowance of time: as, three days′ grace for the payment of a note.
- noun In English universities, an act, vote, or decree of the government of the institution: as, a grace was approved by the Senate at Cambridge for founding a Chinese professorship.
- noun Thanks; thanksgiving.
- noun A formula of words expressing thanks and craving a blessing on or with a meal or refreshment; a short prayer before or after meals, in which a blessing is asked or thanks are rendered: as, to say grace; grace before meat.
- noun A title of honor formerly borne by the sovereigns of England, but now used only as a ceremonious title in speaking to or of a duke, a duchess, or an archbishop: as, his Grace the Duke of Wellington.
- noun The period.beyond the fixed day for payment allowed by law or custom for paying a note or bill of exchange. In Great Britain and the united States, at common law, three days are allowed; but if the last day of grace falls on Sunday, or any day on which business is not legally carried on, the bill or note is payable on the day preceding. Modern statutes have made some changes in these rules, particularly as regards legal holidays immediately preceding or following Sunday. Bankers′ checks are payable on demand without days of grace, and the same rule applies to bills or notes payable on demand.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He could do the butchering of a hog with the best of grace, and had killed, first and last, so many, that I imagine he could tell the number of squeals, or wrigglings of the porcine tail it took to terminate the life of the animal, after he had given it the _coup de grace_.
Brook Farm John Thomas Codman
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It is not a practiced, educated grace, but the unbought grace of his genius, uttering itself in its beauty and grandeur in the movements of the outward man.
Keans Acting 1914
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And grace to anfwer grace* v. But let us haften to the day H y Ki N. s« 229
Carmina Evangelica, Or, Hymns: Chiefly Collected from Various Authors William Maurice 1792
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_Faith_ I grant is a more radicall, vitall, and necessary grace; but yet not so wholly out of _grace_ with the times, as poore _Zeale_; which yet if by any meanes it might once againe be reduced into favour and practice, before Time sets, and bee no more; I doubt not but Christ would also yet once againe in this evening of the world, come and _Sup_ with us; A favour including all other in it.
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Juno's royal academy, left the language of Billingsgate quite out of my education: hence I am perfectly _illiterate_ in the polite style of the street, and am not fit to converse with the porters and carmen of quality, who grace their diction with the beauties of calling names, and curse their neighbour with a _bonne grace_. "
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 09 Contributions to The Tatler, The Examiner, The Spectator, and The Intelligencer Jonathan Swift 1706
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And if you knew nothing about the Japanese people before last week, they've certainly shown what the term grace under pressure really means.
unknown title 2011
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Virtus in Latin, and vertu in French, may both signify power, virtue, efficacy; but it seems that the term grace more correctly conveys to an English ear the meaning of the Author.
Commentary on Genesis - Volume 1 1509-1564 1996
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Many asset that this inability to do good works is physical, and assign the withholding of all grace as its proximate cause; in doing so, they take the term grace in its widest meaning, i.e. every Divine co-operation both in natural and in supernatural good actions.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913
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The God to whom as its source all grace is to be referred; who in grace completes what in grace He began.
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The promises he made them are included in these commands, for the covenant of grace is a word which he hath commanded,
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
chained_bear commented on the word grace
...also a song by U2...
February 9, 2008
brobbins commented on the word grace
to give freely
July 22, 2009
bijan commented on the word grace
Thank you this is very good.
November 25, 2009
fbharjo commented on the word grace
Creation is composed of the descending movement of gravity, the ascending movement of grace and the descending movement of the second degree of grace Simone Weil
March 23, 2010
blafferty commented on the word grace
Excellent visuals! Thanks, fbharjo!
August 6, 2011