Word of the Day

: January 30, 2011

urbane

adj er-BAYN

What It Means

: notably polite or polished in manner

urbane in Context

When had my willful and tomboyish cousin turned into this urbane young artist greeting the guests at her opening reception?

"It is an archetypal scenario: innocent nave falls victim to the chicanery of a malevolent, urbane and -- most importantly -- seemingly innocuous predator." -- From an article by Judith Acosta on The Huffington Post, December 27, 2010

Did You Know?

City slickers and country folk have long debated whether life is better in town or in the wide open spaces, and "urbane" is a term that springs from the throes of that debate. The word traces back to Latin "urbs," meaning "city," and in its earliest English uses "urbane" was synonymous with its close relative "urban" ("of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting a city"). "Urbane" developed its modern sense of savoir faire from the belief (no doubt fostered by city dwellers) that living in the city made one more suave and polished than did leading a rural life.