Dictionary

aesthete en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɛs.θiːt/ (General-American)
• ēsʹthēt (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• ĕsʹthēt (General-American)
• /ˈiːs.θiːt/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek αἰσθητής (aisthētḗs, “one who perceives”).

Meanings

1. (derogatory, often) Someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature, often in a manner perceived to prioritize beauty over other qualities such as virtue and utility.
   • Since the days of Søren Kierkegaard, aesthetics – by him termed the aesthetic that is worshipped by the aesthete – has been accused of subjectivism and relativism. An aesthete is allegedly characterized by finding sensuous pleasure in particular phenomena, and by being different from the ethicist or the religious person in being unable to recognize or commit himself to anything universal. 2015, Dorthe Jørgensen, “Sensoriness and Transcendence: On the Aesthetic Possibility of Experiencing Divinity”, in Svein Aage Christoffersen et al., editors, Transcendence and Sensoriness: Perceptions, Revelation, and the Arts, →ISBN, page 68:
   • Because what the aesthete does is to say, “oh, I can transform any unpleasant experience into a moment of beauty.” 2000, Tom Huhn, “The Anatomy of Beauty”, in Michael Tobias, J. Patrick Fitzgerald, David Rothenberg, editors, A Parliament of Minds: Philosophy for a New Millennium, page 237:
   • I prefer to think of [literature] as providing a discipline of the sensibility—a special way of apprehending reality. But though I prefer such a conception, it gives rise to all sorts of misunderstandings […] To define literature in this fashion is to risk being called a mere aesthete and even an ecapist who refuses to face the harsh facts of life. a. 1994, Cleanth Brooks, “English Literature: A Subject Matter? A Discipline? A Special Amalgam?”, in Community, Religion, Literature, published 1995, →ISBN, page 184:
   • Although Stanley was the political operator while Pick was the aesthete, it was Stanley who made the early running in Underground design. 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 159:

Forms

Deriveds

anaesthete · synaesthete

Relateds

aesthetic

Translations (22)

pt esteta (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · nl estheet (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · el εστέτ (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · pl esteta (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · ca esteta (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · es esteta (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · sv estet (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · da æstet (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · it esteta (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · ka ესთეტი (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · de Schöngeist (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · fr esthète (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · de Ästhet (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · cs estét (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · de Ästhetin (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · hu esztéta (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · ru эсте́т (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · ga aeistéitire (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · cmn 唯美主義者 /唯美主义者 (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · fi esteetikko (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · pl estetka (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature) · nb skjønnånd (someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature)