aesthete
Americannoun
-
a person who has or professes to have refined sensitivity toward the beauties of art or nature.
- Synonyms:
- connoisseur
-
a person who affects great love of art, music, poetry, etc., and indifference to practical matters.
- Synonyms:
- dilettante
noun
Other Word Forms
- hyperaesthete noun
Etymology
Origin of aesthete
1880–85; < Greek aisthētḗs one who perceives, equivalent to aisthē- (variant stem of aisthánesthai to perceive) + -tēs noun suffix denoting agent
Explanation
Someone who claims to be concerned only with matters of art and beauty is known as an aesthete. Depending on the way he goes about it, he might also be known as a snob. The Greeks considered an aisthētḗs as "one who feels." It's from this idea of emotional sensitivity that the word aesthete came about in the late 19th century as a noun for someone who greatly appreciates beauty and the arts. An aesthete doesn’t have to be a wealthy individual or an art-academy graduate. You're as much of an aesthete if you're going about your business and happen to absorb a strain of Beethoven as much as the poet who writes about the splendor of a leaf.
Vocabulary lists containing aesthete
Waiting for Godot
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The Book of Unknown Americans
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The Call of Chtulhu
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She’s an aesthete run amok, determined to deface anything that doesn’t live up to her impossible standards.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2026
He added: "Carpenter is above all a brilliant aesthete, her videos and album artwork uniformly inspired."
From BBC • Aug. 29, 2025
Ludwig II of Bavaria was a zealous aesthete with enough personal wealth to treat part of what is now Germany as an architectural canvas.
From Salon • Jun. 22, 2025
What’s more, Swann, an aesthete and authority on Vermeer, finds her unintelligent.
From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022
The face of his grandson, by contrast, is that of a bud-lipped aesthete.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
