style

¹ American  

[stahyl] / staɪl /

noun

1. a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character.

   the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their liking.

2. a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode of action or manner of acting.

   They do these things in a grand style.

   Synonyms:

   approach, method

3. a mode of living, as with respect to expense or display.

4. an elegant, fashionable, or luxurious mode of living.

   to live in style.

5. a mode of fashion, as in dress, especially good or approved fashion; elegance; smartness.

   Synonyms:

   chic

6. the mode of expressing thought in writing or speaking by selecting and arranging words, considered with respect to clearness, effectiveness, euphony, or the like, that is characteristic of a group, period, person, personality, etc..

   to write in the style of Faulkner; a familiar style; a pompous, pedantic style.

7. those components or features of a literary composition that have to do with the form of expression rather than the content of the thought expressed.

   His writing is all style and no substance.

8. manner or tone adopted in discourse or conversation.

   a patronizing style of addressing others.

9. a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode or form of construction or execution in any art or work.

   Her painting is beginning to show a personal style.

   Synonyms:

   mark, characteristic, touch

10. a descriptive or distinguishing appellation, especially a legal, official, or recognized title.

    a firm trading under the style of Smith, Jones, & Co.

11. stylus.

12. the gnomon of a sundial.

13. a method of reckoning time.

14. Zoology. a small, pointed process or part.

15. Botany. a narrow, usually cylindrical and more or less filiform extension of the pistil, which, when present, bears the stigma at its apex.

16. the rules or customs of typography, punctuation, spelling, and related matters used by a newspaper, magazine, publishing house, etc., or in a specific publication.

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verb (used with object)

styled, styling

1. to call by a given title or appellation; denominate; name; call.

   The pope is styled His or Your Holiness.

2. to design or arrange in accordance with a given or new style.

   to style an evening dress; to style one's hair.

3. to bring into conformity with a specific style or give a specific style to.

   Please style this manuscript.

verb (used without object)

styled, styling

1. to do decorative work with a style or stylus.

idioms

1. go out of style, to become unfashionable.

   The jacket he's wearing went out of style ten years ago.

2. in style, fashionable.

-style ² American  

1. a combining form of style.

   blastostyle.

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-style ³ American  

1. a combining form with the meanings “column,” “columned,” “having columns (of the kind specified)” used in the formation of compound words.

   orthostyle; urostyle.

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style British  

/ staɪl /

noun

1. a form of appearance, design, or production; type or make

   a new style of house

2. the way in which something is done

   good or bad style

3. the manner in which something is expressed or performed, considered as separate from its intrinsic content, meaning, etc

4. a distinctive, formal, or characteristic manner of expression in words, music, painting, etc

5. elegance or refinement of manners, dress, etc

6. prevailing fashion in dress, looks, etc

7. a fashionable or ostentatious mode of existence

   to live in style

8. the particular mode of orthography, punctuation, design, etc, followed in a book, journal, etc, or in a printing or publishing house

9. the distinguishing title or form of address of a person or firm

10. botany the stalk of a carpel, bearing the stigma

11. zoology a slender pointed structure, such as the piercing mouthparts of certain insects

12. a method of expressing or calculating dates See Old Style New Style

13. another word for stylus

14. the arm of a sundial

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verb

1. to design, shape, or tailor

   to style hair

2. to adapt or make suitable (for)

3. to make consistent or correct according to a printing or publishing style

4. to name or call; designate

   to style a man a fool

5. (intr) to decorate objects using a style or stylus

style Scientific  

/ stīl /

1. The slender part of a flower pistil, connecting the ovary and the stigma. The pollen tube grows through the style delivering the pollen nuclei to the ovary.

2. See more at flower pollination

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style More Idioms  

1. see cramp someone's style; go out (of style); in fashion (style).

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Related Words

See fashion.

Other Word Forms

• antistyle noun
• counterstyle noun
• misstyle verb
• restyle verb
• stylar adjective
• styleless adjective
• stylelessness noun
• stylelike adjective
• styler noun
• unstyled adjective
• well-styled adjective

Etymology

Origin of style¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; (noun) Middle English, from Latin stylus, spelling variant, mistakenly associated with Greek stŷlos “pillar, column,” of stilus “tool for writing,” hence, “written composition, style”; stylus; (verb) from the noun, first recorded in 1560–80

Origin of -style³

< Greek stŷlos column or -stȳlos -columned, adj. derivative of stŷlos

Related Words

• approach
• behavior
• characteristic
• description
• design
• form
• genre
• habit
• kind
• method
• mode
• pattern
• spirit
• technique
• thing
• tone
• trait
• trend
• type
• variety