Definition of SUAVE

Examples of suave in a sentence

I am pleased, also, to think I pulled it off. I didn't do anything too stupid or gauche, and even though it was my first time at a spa, I managed to bluff my way through in a suitably suave, urbane fashion without any embarrassing social gaffes. —Will Ferguson, Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw, 2004
When she had been Miss Tampa, a suave major leaguer had courted her till she found out he was married, with children. —Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, 19 Mar. 2001
Bobby gets a lot of tough love at home. As suave and polite as he seems to outsiders, he has “two personalities,” says his stepmother Wille. “He's a con artist.” His parents kicked him out of the house in August, trying to scare him after he came home drunk at 5 a. m. —Stacy Perman, Time, 25 Oct. 1999
a suave and sophisticated businessman
the suave gentleman was a great favorite of the elegant ladies who attended parties at the embassy

Recent Examples of suave from the web

Two other characters also figure prominently: the assertive Alice (Jane Randolph), Oliver’s workplace confidante, who not-so-secretly loves him, and her friend Dr. Judd (Tom Conway), a suave psychiatrist of malleable professional ethics.

— david mermelstein, WSJ, Master of Dark Arts, 25 October 2016
Yeah Jacques Chirac, a blog that has reclaimed Chirac’s retro-suave style for Parisian hipsters, features fifteen pictures of Chirac au Salon.

— lauren collins, The New Yorker, Come to the Fair, 4 April 2016
Even so, the gulf separating the suave English speakers of the interim government from the thuwar was becoming more and more pronounced.

— scott shane and jo becker, New York Times, A New Libya, With ‘Very Little Time Left’, 27 February 2016
Piers, even in rural semi-retirement, continues to create suave environments for clients with such boldfaced names as Getty and Windsor.

— oberto gili, Vogue, Inside Caroline Sieber’s Colorful London Home, 25 November 2015
After all the pish-tosh about dryness and martinis and eyedroppers -- nay, atomizers! -- of vermouth has been pished and toshed, you're left with a perfectly suave cocktail that has nothing of the milquetoast about it.

— david wondrich, Esquire, Hearst, 5 November 2007

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Origin and Etymology of suave

French, from Middle French, pleasant, sweet, from Latin suavis — more at sweet

First Known Use: 1831

suave Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of suave

suave, urbane, diplomatic, bland, smooth, politic mean pleasantly tactful and well-mannered. suave suggests a specific ability to deal with others easily and without friction. a suave public relations coordinator urbane implies high cultivation and poise coming from wide social experience. an urbane traveler diplomatic stresses an ability to deal with ticklish situations tactfully. a diplomatic negotiator bland emphasizes mildness of manner and absence of irritating qualities. a bland master of ceremonies smooth suggests often a deliberately assumed suavity. a smooth salesman politic implies shrewd as well as tactful and suave handling of people. a cunningly politic manager

suave