http://deshoda.com/words/100-most-beautiful-words-in-the-english-language
I thought the list included lots of very fine words, but overlooked some of my personal favorites. The website included a box allowing readers to respond with their comments and quite a few people had done so, endorsing favorite words that were on the list or suggesting words they thought should have been on it. So I jumped in and added a comment with my favorites. Over subsequent weeks, the web page sent me e-mails when people posted to the list. I decided to go through the postings and compile the additional words that people had nominated as beautiful. That compilation is below.
Some people gave explanations or definitions with their words. Some nominated short, simple words, but many more nominated exotic words. Some people argued about why there were so many words derived from French. Some people offered words with beautiful meanings, whereas some suggested words with rather ugly meanings but which sounded lovely -- or are just fun to pronounce. I had to look up a few of the words.
I did leave a few words off my compiled list. People who greedily nominated a lengthy slate of words did not get all their words in this compilation. I also dinged words that aren’t in the standard online dictionaries, at least not yet. (I used “OneLook” Dictionary Search, http://www.onelook.com/. This is a “metadictionary” that scans the internet and offers links to as many dictionaries as it can find that include the word.)
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- 1. Acquiesce
- 2. Admonish
. 3. Adoration
. 4. Aesthetics
. 5. Alabaster
. 6. Alliteration
. 7. Aloof
. 8. Ambiance
. 9. Ambient
. 10. Apocryphal
. 11. Apt
. 12. Arabesque
. 13. Amalgam
. 14. Ameliorate
. 15. Anathema
. 16. Authenticity
. 17. Avarice
. 18. Azure
. 19. Azalea
. 20. Bamboozle
. 21. Bang
. 22. Barometric
. 23. Beaver
. 24. Beleaguer
. 25. Bereft
. 26. Billowy
. 27. Biscuit
. 28. Bittersweet
. 29. Bludgeon
. 30. Bonhomie
. 31. Bourgeoisie
. 32. Buoyant
. 33. Breath
. 34. Calliope
. 35. Callipygian
. 36. Camaraderie
. 37. Candor
. 38. Capricious
. 39. Capsule
. 40. Cataclysm
. 41. Cathartic
. 42. Cathedral
. 43. Celadon
. 44. Cellar-door
. 45. Cellophane
. 46. Centralia
. 47. Cerulean
. 48. Chlamydia
. 49. Chthonic
. 50. Cinnabar
. 51. Circumlocution
. 52. Clairvoyant
. 53. Cleave
. 54. Clemency
. 55. Click
. 56. Coalesce
. 57. Collapse
. 58. Concupiscence
. 59. Corrosive
. 60. Crepuscular
. 61. Crestfallen
. 62. Cuspidor
. 63. Dauntless
. 64. Defenestrate
. 65. Delectable
. 66. Deliquesce
. 67. Deluge
. 68. Destiny
. 69. Devotion
. 70. Diarrhea
. 71. Didgeridoo
. 72. Diminish
. 73. Dirigible
. 74. Discombobulate
. 75. Discordant
. 76. Disingenuous
. 77. Dresden
. 78. Dysphoria
. 79. Ebullient
. 80. Eclectic
. 81. Efface
. 82. Effluence
. 83. Elvin
. 84. Embrace
. 85. Ennui
. 86. Envoy
. 87. Envy
. 88. Equinox
. 89. Ermine
. 90. Esoteric
. 91. Essence
. 92. Eviscerate
. 93. Exquisite
. 94. Facetious
. 95. Fecundity
. 96. Fetching
. 97. Filigree
. 98. Filth
. 99. Fissure
. 100. Flabbergasted
. 101. Flagrant
. 102. Flamboyant
. 103. Flamingo
. 104. Fleeting
. 105. Flotsam
. 106. Flummoxed
. 107. Fortuitous
. 108. Fractious
. 109. Frisson
. 110. Gesticulate
. 111. Glee
. 112. Glockenspiel
. 113. Goo
. 114. Grace
. 115. Gracious
. 116. Gradual
. 117. Grief
. 118. Haberdashery
. 119. Hallelujah
. 120. Hamburger
. 121. Harbinger
. 122. Heliotropic
. 123. Helix
. 124. Heritage
. 125. Hillbilly
. 126. Hoodwink
. 127. Honesty
. 128. Hoyden
. 129. Hubris
. 130. Hypnogogic
. 131. Impede
. 132. Impervious
. 133. Impromptu
. 134. Indubitably
. 135. Incantation
. 136. Incendiary
. 137. Inkling
. 138. Iridescent
. 139. Jejune
. 140. Jelly
. 141. Jingoistic
. 142. Jonquil
. 143. Judicious
. 144. Joyous
. 145. Jubilee
. 146. Kaleidoscope
. 147. Kerfuffle
. 148. Kind
. 149. Kindhearted
. 150. Kinetic
. 151. Lambast
. 152. Languid
. 153. Lascivious
. 154. Lavender
. 155. Legerdemain
. 156. Lachrymose
. 157. Lackadaisical
. 158. Legacy
. 159. Loquacious
. 160. Lothario
. 161. Louche
. 162. Lugubrious
. 163. Lullaby
. 164. Luxuriate
. 165. Malicious
. 166. Mariner
. 167. Marmalade
. 168. Maneuver
. 169. Maudlin
. 170. Melancholy
. 171. Mercurial
. 172. Miasma
. 173. Milliner
. 174. Mist
. 175. Mnemonic
. 176. Moist
. 177. Moonlight
. 178. Morbid
. 179. Morose
. 180. Murmur
. 181. Nefarious
. 182. Noctilucent
. 183. Nonchalance
. 184. Nuance
. 185. Oblique
. 186. Obsequious
. 187. Onyx
. 188. Ooze
. 189. Opium
. 190. Opulent
. 191. Parlance
. 192. Patience
. 193. Peripeteia
. 194. Periwinkle
. 195. Perspicacious
. 196. Phantasmagoric
. 197. Philanderer
. 198. Piety
. 199. Pimlico
. 200. Pipistrelle
. 201. Placid
. 202. Ponder
. 203. Porridge
. 204. Primordial
. 205. Proboscis
. 206. Pure
. 207. Push
. 208. Quagmire
. 209. Quaquaversal
. 210. Quatrefoil
. 211. Querulous
. 212. Quiver
. 213. Rapscallion
. 214. Recalcitrance
. 215. Recondite
. 216. Recrudescence
. 217. Relish
. 218. Reminiscent
. 219. Render
. 220. Rendezvous
. 221. Requiem
. 222. Resplendence
. 223. Resonance
. 224. Reticent
. 225. Reverie
. 226. Rhetoric
. 227. Rotund
. 228. Saccharine
. 229. Sage
. 230. Salacious
. 231. Sanctuary
. 232. Scintillating
. 233. Scruples
. 234. Sepulchral
. 235. Serenity
. 236. Sesquipedalian
. 237. Schadenfreude
. 238. Scum
. 239. Shell
. 240. Shenandoah
. 241. Shibboleth
. 242. Shrewd
. 243. Shuck
. 244. Silly
. 245. Silo
. 246. Simulacrum
. 247. Sinuous
. 248. Slipshod
. 249. Snuggle
. 250. Soliloquy
. 251. Solstice
. 252. Sorrow
. 253. Specificity
. 254. Spindrift
. 255. Spit
. 256. Squish
. 257. Stellar
. 258. Stench
. 259. Strawberry
. 260. Strumpet
. 261. Stumble
. 262. Sublime
. 263. Subtle
. 264. Succour
. 265. Summer-afternoon
. 266. Supercilious
. 267. Superfluous
. 268. Surreal
. 269. Synchronicity
. 270. Syzygy
. 271. Tabernacle
. 272. Tectonic
. 273. Telemetry
. 274. Terpsichorean
. 275. Tranquility
. 276. Transmogrify
. 277. Trifecta
. 278. Triumphant
. 279. Troika
. 280. Trollop
. 281. Twilight
. 282. Unctuous
. 283. Undulation
. 284. Usurped
. 285. Vast
. 286. Velocity
. 287. Velvet
. 288. Venerable
. 289. Vermillion
. 290. Vespertine
. 291. Vestibule
. 292. Vitriol
. 293. Voluptuous
. 294. Vulva
. 295. Waft
. 296. Wanderlust
. 297. Wench
. 298. Whimsy
. 299. Whisper
. 300. Wisteria
. 301. Wondrous
. 302. Zephyr - 303. Zinnia