beau ideal

1 9.9

A perfect example of a person or thing that people admire

noun
/boʊ iˈdiːəl/

: ideal

She was considered the beau ideal of grace and beauty in her time.

Examples

Large numbers of people don’t think that the NBA today has players who are the beau ideal of teamwork like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
The ancient statue was the beau ideal of classical sculpture.
For many writers, Shakespeare remains the beau ideal of literary genius.
He is the beau ideal of a gentleman.
Many consider her the beau ideal of beauty.
Captain George B. McClellan described the Zouaves as the beau ideal of a soldier, praising their excellence in light infantry.
In that article, 'Jon Stewart Slams Glenn Beck,' the author created the beau ideal of great headline writing to capture attention.

Synonyms

epitome

vsbeau ideal

30 7.4

A perfect example of a person or thing that shows a certain quality

focuses on the perfect, most admired embodiment rather than a typical example

paragon

vsbeau ideal

Formal

18 7.8

A person or thing that shows the highest level of quality

is broader, stressing admired ideal embodiment of a concept rather than pure excellence

How Ideal

perfection

97 3.7

beau ideal

1 9.9

model

569 3.4

example

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

beau ideal singular

beau ideals plural

Morphology

beau + ideal

The phrase comes from French and literally combines 'beau' (beautiful/fine) with 'ideal' (perfect exemplar); if a learner knows 'beau' as 'beautiful' and 'ideal' as 'best example' they can infer the general sense. However, 'beau' is not a common English lexical element in this sense and the phrase is a fixed, somewhat literary borrowing, so its exact idiomatic use and register may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Beau ideal comes from French: beau means 'beautiful' and ideal means 'perfect model'. Imagine an artist holding up a perfect statue as the model for everyone to copy; that's why beau ideal means 'the perfect or most admired example' today.