urbane

[ ur-beyn ]

adjective

1. having the polish and suavity regarded as characteristic of sophisticated social life in major cities:

   an urbane manner.

   Synonyms: cosmopolitan, suave

2. reflecting elegance, sophistication, etc., especially in expression:

   He maintained an urbane tone in his letters.

urbane

/ ɜːˈbeɪn /

adjective

1. characterized by elegance or sophistication

Derived Forms

• urˈbanely, adverb
• urˈbaneness, noun

Other Words From

• ur·banely adverb
• ur·baneness noun
• unur·bane adjective
• unur·banely adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of urbane¹

1525–35; (< Middle French urbain ) < Latin urbānus ( urban; for difference in stress and second syllable human, humane )

Word History and Origins

Origin of urbane¹

C16: from Latin urbānus belonging to the town; see urban

Example Sentences

Most of the characters here are criminals, ranging from the semicomical, relatively harmless Williams to the deceptively urbane Moten to the merely thuggish — though there is some attempt to delineate the worse and less worse among the robbers, and in some cases even engage one’s sympathy.

From Los Angeles Times

In the secular realm, Douglas Blow posits in “On the Importance of Being an Individual in Renaissance Italy” that a similar desire took hold over urbane Italians reduced to impotence in the face of repeated invasions and occupations by foreign powers like France and Spain from 1494 onwards.

From Salon

Being seen at a café here is considered hip and urbane, and that has helped drive young customers through the doors.

From BBC

An urbane technocrat from a well-heeled Jewish family, whose maternal grandparents fled the Holocaust, she cuts a very different figure to Amlo.

From BBC

“Nowadays there are more urbane people living in the Piedmont. Nobody’s coming out of the hills doing any of those big, back-throated things.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• affable
• cosmopolitan
• cultured
• elegant
• polished
• refined
• sophisticated
• suave
• well-bred