beau ideal

noun

ˌbō-ī-ˈdē(-ə)l How to pronounce beau ideal (audio)
Definition of beau idealnext
1
as in model
someone of such unequaled perfection as to deserve imitation she is the beau ideal of the dedicated medical professional

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in ideal
the most perfect type or example Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous architectural creation, Falling Water, is widely regarded as the beau ideal of a building in harmony with its setting

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of beau ideal The beau ideal of local graft was Hall’s boss, Fate Thomas, the Davidson County sheriff. — James Verini, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026 The beau ideal of illiberal democracy is, of course, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, who outlined the term in a 2014 speech. — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 31 Jan. 2024 At Délice & Sarrasin, a charming French bistro in the West Village, vegans can bide their time in style, enticing new recruits with the beau ideal of meatless haute cuisine. — David Kortava, The New Yorker, 24 Sep. 2021 If Hicks is the beau ideal in today’s MLB, then Miles Mikolas is a throwback to the Roosevelt administration. — Michael Beller, SI.com, 23 May 2018 Conservatives like to imagine Reagan as the beau ideal of a president who faithfully adhered to their principles, but Trump is the president who has actually done it. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 23 Feb. 2018 If Teddy Roosevelt was the Harvard beau ideal at the turn of the last century, Mark Zuckerberg is the Harvard man to be in the new millennium. — William Stadiem, Town & Country, 2 Aug. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for beau ideal
  1. model
  2. ideal
  3. idea
  4. classic
  5. patron saint
  6. perfection
  7. example
  8. manifestation
Noun
  • This allows XPeng to run its physical AI foundation model directly on the robot rather than relying on remote computing or teleoperation for complex tasks.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 8 Sep. 2026
  • Open models are becoming fascinating; their performance is absolutely reaching frontier levels.
    — Matthew Martin, semafor.com, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of model
Noun
  • The book is breathtakingly large in scope and purpose, tracking the ideal from pre-Revolutionary America to the postmodern age.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026
  • But success has been elusive—which, McDowell says, is all the more remarkable, given the site’s near-ideal remote, equatorial locale.
    — Elizabeth Howell, Scientific American, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of ideal
Noun
  • The new experiment tested those competing ideas by deliberately weakening the electron interactions.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Sep. 2026
  • But the head of Germany’s central bank, who is also a member of the European Central Bank Governing Council, said Melenchon’s debt cancelation idea would be forbidden under the currency bloc’s rules and could lead to hyperinflation.
    — Jason Ma, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of idea
Noun
  • Fans of the 1998 cult classic are sure to notice that Bullock’s character Sally Owens’s daughters, Kylie and Antonia, have been recast.
    — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Tommy Hilfiger knows his way around prep, and this capsule gives the classics — from cable knits and varsity jackets to denim and chinos — a timely refresh, in the form of sharper proportions fused with archival touches.
    — Camila Quimper, Footwear News, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of classic
Noun
  • Almost every small chapel on the island has its own patron saint, and every saint's feast day is celebrated with a panigiri, a traditional village festival.
    — Chadner Navarro, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Columnist Gustavo Arellano says voters should pray extra hard to these patron saints for the 2026 election.
    — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of patron saint
Noun
  • When a stock priced for perfection starts missing on momentum instead, that valuation gap becomes the risk.
    — Tony Zhang, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026
  • One student told Leahy that the problem wasn’t decadence but an obsession with achievement and perfection.
    — Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of perfection
Noun
  • But as this example illustrates, interpreting the benchmark scores can be technically complex, presenting a challenge for companies that want to show off the results to the public in a digestible format.
    — Emily Forlini, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Trump’s botched repairs to the Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation’s 250th-birthday celebrations, in July, offer a classic example of the problem.
    — Janay Kingsberry, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of example
Noun
  • What is manifestation if not telling yourself an aspirational lie until the universe responds accordingly?
    — Julissa James, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Sports are in the midst of a global makeover from narrow manifestations of tribal interest to mainstays of the monoculture.
    — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of manifestation

Browse Nearby Words

beaucoup
beau ideal
beau ideals
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Beau ideal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/beau%20ideal. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of quorum

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All