soigné

or soi·gnée

[ swahn-yey; French swa-nyey ]

adjective

1. carefully or elegantly done, operated, or designed.
2. well-groomed.

soigné

/ swaɲe; ˈswɑːnjeɪ /

adjective

1. well-groomed; elegant

Word History and Origins

Origin of soigné¹

1915–20; < French, past participle of soigner to take care of < Germanic (compare Old Saxon sunnea care, concern)

Word History and Origins

Origin of soigné¹

French, from soigner to take good care of, of Germanic origin; compare Old Saxon sunnea care

Example Sentences

His entrepreneurial vision was informed by the classical techniques and soigné styles of Alain Ducasse and Paul Liebrandt — two legendary French chefs, and two of his former bosses.

From Washington Post

Anduaga’s soigné style, and vibrant yet plangent timbre, made him an uncommonly sensitive Nemorino — more of a melancholy-prone Werther scribbling poeticisms in a notebook than a sunny country bumpkin mooning over his beloved.

From New York Times

At Southern Soigné in Jackson, Miss., Zacchaeus Golden offers a multicourse dinner for $95, a fraction of the cost of most lavish tasting-menu marathons.

From New York Times

Ms. Blamey made her reputation at Chumley’s, a reconstructed speakeasy whose dining room was decorated with jackets of books by long-dead Greenwich Village writers; to anyone who ate there, it was obvious that Ms. Blamey’s cooking was more interesting than many of those books; even her cheeseburger was probably the most soigné cheeseburger in the city.

From New York Times

He was soigné, to use one of his favorite words, and he had éclat, to use another.

From New York Times