The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

I don’t agree with all of these as Top 100, but there are some pretty good words here. What are your thoughts?

Ailurophile	A cat-lover.
Assemblage	A gathering.
Becoming	Attractive.
Beleaguer	To exhaust with attacks.
Brood	To think alone.
Bucolic	In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow	A small, cozy cottage.
Chatoyant	Like a cat’s eye.
Comely	Attractive.
Conflate	To blend together.
Cynosure	A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance	A brief love affair.
Demesne	Dominion, territory.
Demure	Shy and reserved.
Denouement	The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude	Disuse.
Desultory	Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous	Filmy.
Dissemble	Deceive.
Dulcet	Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience	Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent	Bubbly.
Efflorescence	Flowering, blooming.
Elision	Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir	A good potion.
Eloquence	Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation	Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient	A softener.
Ephemeral	Short-lived.
Epiphany	A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile	At one time, for a time.
Ethereal	Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent	Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative	Suggestive.
Fetching	Pretty.
Felicity	Pleasantness.
Forbearance	Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious	Fleeting.
Furtive

6 thoughts on “The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English”

Love this list! My favorites are the ones that are generally known but seldom used. Nice for a writer’s toolbox.

stuartaken

My thoughts exactly.

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20/04/2015 at 20:08

Bucolic ‘In a lovely rural setting’. Is this right or am I missing something?

stuartaken

No, Valerie, you’re not missing anything. In fact, ‘bucolic’ is one of those much-lauded words that I find very unappealing; a word that conjures images far from those it is intended to describe. And one of the reasons I placed my statement about disagreeing with some of the choices made for this list.

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04/04/2015 at 08:13