[syn: courteous, gracious, nice]
4. disposed to bestow favors;
- Example: "thanks to the gracious gods"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Gracious \Gra"cious\ (gr[=a]"sh[u^]s), a. [F. gracieux, L.
gratiosus. See Grace.]
1. Abounding in grace or mercy; manifesting love, or
bestowing mercy; characterized by grace; beneficent;
merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor;
condescending; as, his most gracious majesty.
[1913 Webster]
A god ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. --Neh.
ix. 17.
[1913 Webster]
So hallowed and so gracious in the time. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Abounding in beauty, loveliness, or amiability; graceful;
excellent.
[1913 Webster]
Since the birth of Cain, the first male child, . . .
There was not such a gracious creature born. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. Produced by divine grace; influenced or controlled by the
divine influence; as, gracious affections.
Syn: Favorable; kind; benevolent; friendly; beneficent;
benignant; merciful.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
gracious
adj 1: characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of
spirit; "gracious even to unexpected visitors"; "gracious
living"; "he bears insult with gracious good humor" [ant:
ungracious]
2: characterized by kindness and warm courtesy especially of a
king to his subjects; "our benignant king" [syn: benignant,
gracious]
3: exhibiting courtesy and politeness; "a nice gesture" [syn:
courteous, gracious, nice]
4: disposed to bestow favors; "thanks to the gracious gods"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
172 Moby Thesaurus words for "gracious":
Bohemian, Christian, Christlike, Christly, accommodating, affable,
affectionate, agreeable, amiable, amicable, approachable,
attentive, beneficent, benevolent, benign, benignant, bighearted,
blissful, bonhomous, bounteous, bountiful, brotherly, casual,
cheerful, chivalrous, civil, civilized, clubby, compassionate,
compatible, complaisant, compliant, congenial, considerate,
cordial, courteous, courtly, cultivated, cultured, dainty, decent,
deferential, degage, delicate, desirable, discriminating,
easygoing, elegant, en rapport, enjoyable, fair, fair and pleasant,
familiar, fastidious, felicific, felicitous, fine, folksy,
forthcoming, fraternal, free, free and easy, freehanded,
freehearted, friendly, gallant, generous, genial, giving, good,
good-natured, goodly, graceful, gracile, grateful, gratifying,
greathearted, handsome, harmonious, haymish, heart-warming, hearty,
homely, homey, honeyed, hospitable, human, humane, indulgent,
informal, irregular, kind, kindhearted, kindly, kindly-disposed,
large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, likable, loose, loving,
magnanimous, mannered, mellifluous, mellow, munificent, natural,
neighborly, nice, obliging, offhand, offhanded, oh, open,
openhanded, openhearted, outgoing, overindulgent, overpermissive,
permissive, plain, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable,
pleasure-giving, pleasureful, polished, polite, princely, profuse,
receptive, refined, relaxed, respectful, rewarding, satisfying,
simple, sociable, softhearted, solicitous, sophisticated, starchy,
stately, stintless, subtle, sweet, sympathetic, sympathizing,
tactful, tender, tenderhearted, thoughtful, unaffected, unassuming,
unceremonious, unconstrained, unconventional, ungrudging,
unofficial, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting, unstudied,
urbane, warm, warm-hearted, warmhearted, welcome, welcoming,
well-mannered