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Today's Word "urbane"

Polished and smooth in manner on

Published in Vocabulary

urbane \ur-BAYN\ (adjective) - Polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant.

"My voice was dry, interested, but in an academic sort of way. It was the voice I'd cultivated at court. I had learned to watch the most awful things and make dry, urbane comments." -- Laurell K. Hamilton, 'A Kiss of Shadows'

 

Urbane comes from Latin urbanus, "of a city," hence "refined, polished," from urbs, "city." The noun form is urbanity.


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