Link Centre Dictionary

urbane

ur·bane

UK/ɜːˈbeɪn/ US/ˈɝˈbeɪn/ uncommon obsolete

adjective

1.

showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience

  • “his polished manner”
  • “maintained an urbane tone in his letters”
Synonyms
Similar
2.
3.

marked by wide-ranging knowledge and appreciation of many parts of the world arising from urban life and wide travel

  • “the sophisticated manners of a true cosmopolite”
  • “urbane and pliant...he was at ease even in the drawing rooms of Paris”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

A variant of urban + -ane (a variant of -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives)). Urban is borrowed from Middle French urbain (“belonging to a city, urban; courteous, refined, urbane”) (modern French urbain), or from its etymon Latin urbānus (“of or belonging to a city, urban; of manners or style: like those of city dwellers: cultivated, polished, refined, sophisticated”), from urbs (“city; walled town; Rome”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; a belt; an enclosure, fence”) or *werbʰ- (“to enclose”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Compare typologically civil, courteous.

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.