aesthetic

adjective aes·thet·ic \ es-ˈthe-tik , is- , British usually ēs- \

variants: also US esthetic or aesthetical or US esthetical play \-ti-kəl\

Updated on: 18 Apr 2018

1 a : of, relating to, or dealing with aesthetics or the beautiful

aesthetic theories

b : artistic

a work of aesthetic value

c : pleasing in appearance : attractive

… easy-to-use keyboards, clear graphics, and other ergonomic and aesthetic features …
—Mark Mehler

2 : appreciative of, responsive to, or zealous about the beautiful; also : responsive to or appreciative of what is pleasurable to the senses

his aesthetic sensibility

—

aesthetically

or less commonly esthetically play \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

See aesthetic defined for English-language learners

See aesthetic defined for kids

Examples of aesthetic in a Sentence

My generation has an annoying penchant for treating luxuries as necessities and turning guilty pleasures into aesthetic and even moral touchstones. —Terrence Rafferty, GQ, October 1997
Whereas the essence of Proust's aesthetic position was contained in the deceptively simple yet momentous assertion that "a picture's beauty does not depend on the things portrayed in it." —Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life, 1997
I suppose that jazz listening and prizefight watching are my two most passionate avocations, and this is largely so because the origins of my aesthetic urges are in the black working class. —Gerald Early, "The Passing of Jazz's Old Guard: … ," in The Best American Essays 1986, Elizabeth Hardwick & Robert Atwan, editors, 1986
There are practical as well as aesthetic reasons for planting trees.
making aesthetic improvements to the building

Recent Examples of aesthetic from the Web

Year & Day’s aesthetic is minimalist-leaning but not overly so.

— matt sebra, GQ, "You Could Use a Style Upgrade," 10 Apr. 2018
To be fair, Hildi’s designs did often demonstrate a camp aesthetic.

— michael ward, Curbed, "‘Trading Spaces’ and finding an unlikely queer icon in Hildi Santo-Tomas," 5 Apr. 2018
The aesthetic combines archaic technology, disconcerting art, small rooms, and eerily unpopulated public spaces.

— samantha nelson, The Verge, "In season 2, FX’s Legion is still using a familiar genre to tell an extraordinary story," 5 Apr. 2018
High-fashion designers who can navigate the streetwear aesthetic have been in high-demand.

— matthew dalton, WSJ, "Louis Vuitton Appoints Virgil Abloh as New Creative Director," 26 Mar. 2018
Aptly titled the Tree Collection, these shoes fit right in with the brand's recognizably relaxed aesthetic, but with woodsy origins the make for Allbirds' most sustainable collection to date.

— halie lesavage, Glamour, "Allbirds' New Collection Turns Trees Into Sneakers," 15 Mar. 2018
Nashville transplant the Foxies combine a new wave aesthetic with colorful dance pop while boasting a singer whose voice ranges from Betty Boop-ish to the seductive electro-dance pop of Robyn.

— courtney devores, charlotteobserver, "7 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week | Charlotte Observer," 14 Mar. 2018
His whimsical romanticism and simple, elegant design aesthetic remained intact.

— megan mcdonough, Washington Post, "Hubert de Givenchy, French clothing designer who transformed Audrey Hepburn into a style legend, dies at 91," 12 Mar. 2018
Each property appears to offer a similar aesthetic with photos looking as though they've been pulled straight from a West Elm or CB2 catalogue, and their prices max out at about $309 per night.

— jennifer larino, NOLA.com, "Barbie is planning dolls for Frida Kahlo and other historic women: report," 6 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aesthetic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of aesthetic

borrowed from German ästhetisch "pertaining to taste or discernment," borrowed from New Latin aestheticus, borrowed from Greek aisthētikós "of sense perception, sensitive, perceptive," from aisthētós "sensible, perceptible" (verbal adjective of aisthánomai, aisthánesthai "to perceive, take notice of, understand," going back to *awis-t^h-, from *awis-, base of Greek aḯein "to perceive, hear" + -t^h-, resultative noun suffix) + -ikos ¹-ic — more at ¹audible

Note: German aesthetisch/ästhetisch (New Latin aestheticus) was initially promulgated as a philosophical term in the work of Alexander Baumgarten (1714-62) and subsequently by Immanuel Kant.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1797

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

aesthetic Synonyms

Other Fine Arts Terms

Gothic, baroque, bas-relief, limn, oeuvre, pastiche, rococo, sfumato

aesthetic

noun aes·thet·ic \ es-ˈthe-tik , is- , British usually ēs- \

variants: or less commonly esthetic

1 aesthetics also esthetics plural in form but singular or plural in construction : a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste and with the creation and appreciation of beauty

2 : a particular theory or conception of beauty or art : a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses and especially sight

modernist aesthetics

staging new ballets which reflected the aesthetic of the new nation
—Mary Clarke & Clement Crisp

3 aesthetics also esthetics plural : a pleasing appearance or effect : beauty

appreciated the aesthetics of the gemstones

See aesthetic defined for English-language learners

Examples of aesthetic in a Sentence

Aesthetics is an important part of Greek philosophy.
the aesthetics of the gemstones

Recent Examples of aesthetic from the Web

Ginsburg talked to the WSJ about shopping internationally for favorites, Gavriel first showed them on the spring 2018 runway, and Balenciaga, the arbiter of the ugly-cool aesthetic, produced one for sale.

— kathleen hou, The Cut, "What 9 Women Think of the New Fancy Scrunchies," 10 Apr. 2018
Panelists include: Bree Gant: A Detroit documentarian and Howard University graduate whose work explores Black aesthetics, ritual, and emergence.

— detroit free press staff, Detroit Free Press, "Build your movie-making skills, knowledge at free Freep Film Festival events," 5 Apr. 2018
As projects move through city permitting, developers must make tradeoffs and concessions to balance economics, aesthetics, and other needs.

— tim logan, BostonGlobe.com, "For planned Winthrop Square skyscraper, a design challenge," 31 Mar. 2018
According to a release, the winning projects were selected based on innovation, aesthetics, economy, and design and engineering.

— rosemarie stein, OregonLive.com, "Two Oregon bridges win national steel association awards," 29 Mar. 2018
Outrageous luxury is only one element in Koons’s masterly fusion of Pop content and minimalist aesthetics, which prophesied and still authorizes the cultural aplomb of our reconstituted, remorselessly ongoing gilded age.

— naomi fry, The New Yorker, "“Like Life” Shows Seven Hundred Years of the Body," 24 Mar. 2018
The script calls for a spare aesthetic, yet scenic designer Alexander V. Nichols inexplicably makes a set like the dais of a college lecture hall, complete with light wood and bland blue curtains.

— lily janiak, San Francisco Chronicle, "Actors keep mediocre ‘Heisenberg’ aloft at ACT," 22 Mar. 2018
The survey took into account the aesthetics, location, historical significance and surrounding entertainment options.

— sean welsh, baltimoresun.com, "Oriole Park at Camden Yards ranked the No. 2 ballpark in baseball," 22 Mar. 2018
In 2005, the label was handed to the Italian designer Riccardo Tisci, who introduced an aggressive aesthetic of street wear printed with gaping sharks and raging Rottweiler graphics in addition to more avant-garde evening wear.

— eric wilson, New York Times, "Hubert de Givenchy Dies at 91; Fashion Pillar of Romantic Elegance," 12 Mar. 2018

The Singular (or Plural) Art of aesthetics

The noun aesthetic is often found used in its plural form. In the plural form, aesthetics can refer to the theory of art and beauty—and in particular the question of what makes something beautiful or interesting to regard:

Although he could extemporize animatedly about the history of the valve seat grinder, or the art of ropemaking, or how long it took to manually drill blast holes into a deposit of coal, aesthetics were another matter. The unlikely beauty of his rusty treasures defied elaboration.
Donovan Hohn, Harper’s, January 2005

This sense is sometimes encountered in constructions that treat it as singular:

With the removal of the studio packages, those cinema owners still providing double features began exploring less arbitrary and more justified pairings of films. The double feature became a special element of movie houses concentrating on the presentation of classic and art films. And this is where an aesthetics of the double feature emerges.
Chadwick Jenkins, PopMatters, 16 Aug. 2016

So Sontag was wrong to describe camp as an "unserious, 'aesthete's' vision." Aesthetics is always serious when agreed-upon interpretations are changed or stolen or emptied out.
Dave Hickey, Harper's, December 2009

A word that follows a similar pattern is poetics, (which also happens to be the title of a work by Aristotle focusing on literary theory and discourse):

A poetics of film, he has argued, seeks to reveal the conventions that films use to achieve their effects-and cognitive explanations provide insight into how and why filmic conventions, like shot-reverse-shot or empathy close-ups, produce the effects they do.
Alissa Quart, Lingua Franca, March 2000

As a plural noun, aesthetics can also be used as a synonym for beauty:

For reasons of economy and aesthetics, though, most of the house was stick built and is perfectly cozy without any elaborate beam work.
Andrew Vietze, Down East, May 2003

Origin and Etymology of aesthetic

borrowed from German Ästhetik, borrowed from New Latin aesthetica, from feminine of aestheticus ¹aesthetic — more at -ics

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1822

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Fine Arts Terms

Gothic, baroque, bas-relief, limn, oeuvre, pastiche, rococo, sfumato

AESTHETIC Defined for English Language Learners

aesthetic

adjective

: of or relating to art or beauty

aesthetic

noun

: a set of ideas or opinions about beauty or art
aesthetics : the study of beauty especially in art and literature
: the artistic or beautiful qualities of something

AESTHETIC Defined for Kids

aesthetic

adjective aes·thet·ic \ es-ˈthe-tik \

: relating to beauty and what is beautiful

They made aesthetic improvements to the building.

—

aesthetically

\-i-kə-lē\ adverb

The garden has an aesthetically pleasing design.

Medical Dictionary

aesthetic

adjective aes·thet·ic \ es-ˈthe-tik, British usually ēs- \

: done or made to improve a person's appearance or to correct defects in a person's appearance

aesthetic plastic surgery

Dentists are still drilling and filling, but the fastest growing part of the practices are aesthetic procedures, such as bleaching teeth and using tooth-colored material for fillings …
—Sarah Skidmore, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2005