gracious

English

Alternative forms

• gratious (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English gracious, from Old French gracieus, from Latin gratiosus, from gratia (“esteem, favor”). See grace. Displaced native Old English hold (“gracious”). Doublet of gracioso and grazioso.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪʃəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

Adjective

gracious (comparative more gracious, superlative most gracious)

1. kind and warmly courteous
2. tactful
3. compassionate
4. indulgent, charming and graceful
5. elegant and with good taste
6. benignant
7. full of grace
8. magnanimous, without arrogance or complaint, benevolently declining to raise controversy or insist on possible prerogatives.

   The actress's gracious acceptance of being named only in the end credits allowed her character's appearance in the episode to remain a surprise.

Derived terms

• graciousness
• graciously

Translations

kind and warmly courteous

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: любезен (bg) (ljubezen)
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: ystävällinen (fi), kohtelias (fi)
• German: gütig (de), liebenswürdig (de), freundlich (de)
• Hungarian: kedves (hu), szíves (hu), jóságos (hu), nyájas (hu), barátságos (hu), szívélyes (hu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dilovan (ku), qenc (ku), xweşmirov (ku)

• Latin: cōmis (la)
• Persian: بخشنده (fa) (baxšande), مهربان (fa) (mehrabân)
• Polish: miłościwy (pl), łaskawy (pl), dobrotliwy (pl)
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can

tactful — see also tactful

• Hungarian: tapintatos (hu), udvarias (hu)

compassionate — see also compassionate

• Hungarian: könyörületes (hu), irgalmas (hu)

indulgent — see also indulgent

• Bulgarian: милостив (bg) (milostiv), снизходителен (bg) (snizhoditelen)
• Finnish: suopea (fi)
• Hungarian: jóindulatú (hu), jószívű (hu), elnéző (hu), engedékeny (hu)
• Ido: indulgema (io)
• Persian: بخشنده (fa) (baxšande)
• Romanian: indulgent (ro), îngăduitor (ro),
• Swedish: nådig (sv)
• Turkish: merhametli (tr)

elegant and with good taste — see also elegant

• Hungarian: bájos (hu), kecses (hu), tetszetős (hu), előkelő (hu), elragadó (hu)

benignant — see also benignant

• Hungarian: kegyelmes (hu), kegyes (hu), jóakaratú (hu), jóindulatú (hu), nagylelkű (hu)

full of grace

• Romanian: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norman: ^{(please verify)} grâcieux (Jersey)

See also

• graceful

Interjection

gracious

1. Expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, or frustration.

Synonyms

• (expression of surprise): See Thesaurus:wow

Derived terms

• good gracious
• goodness gracious
• goodness gracious me
• oh my goodness gracious

 

Middle English

Alternative forms

• gracyous, gracyows, gracyouse, gracius, gracieux, gratious, gratius

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French gracious, from Latin grātiōsus. Equivalent to grace +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡraːsiˈuːs/, /ɡraːˈsjuːs/, /ˈɡraːsius/, /ˈɡraːsjus/, /ˈɡraːsjəs/

Adjective

gracious (plural and weak singular graciouse, comparative graciouser, superlative graciousest)

1. kind, gracious, polite
2. forgiving, relenting (used mainly positively)
3. godly, Christian, involving the graciousness of God
   • a. 1450, The Creation and the Fall of Lucifer in The York Plays, as recorded c. 1463–1477 in British Museum MS. Additional 35290:

     I am gracyus and grete, god withoutyn begynnyng, / I am maker vnmade, all mighte es in me, / I am lyfe and way vnto welth-wynnyng, / I am formaste and fyrste, als I byd sall it be.

     I am gracious and great, God without beginning, / I am the unmade maker—all might is in me, / I am life and the way to the attainment of salvation, / I am foremost and first—as I command, it shall be.

4. lucky, glad; bestowed with good fortune
5. enjoyable, nice, pleasing
6. good-looking; pleasing to the eye
7. obedient, respectworthy
8. (rare) useful, beneficious

Derived terms

• graciously
• graciousnesse

Descendants

• English: gracious
• Scots: gracious
• Yola: graacuse, graashoos

References

• “grāciǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-14.