aesthetic
noun/iːsˈθetɪk/, /esˈθetɪk/
/esˈθetɪk/
(North American English also esthetic)
- [countable] the qualities and ideas in a work of art or literature that relate to beauty and the nature of art
- The students debated the aesthetic of the poems.
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- aesthetics[uncountable] the branch of philosophy that studies the principles of beauty, especially in art
Word Originlate 18th cent. (in the sense ‘relating to perception by the senses’): from Greek aisthētikos, from aisthēta ‘perceptible things’, from aisthesthai ‘perceive’. The sense ‘concerned with beauty’ was first used in German in the mid 18th cent. and adopted into English in the early 19th cent., but its use was controversial until much later in the century.
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aesthetic