style (stīl)
n.

1. The way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed: a style of speech and writing.
2. The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era.
3. Sort; type: a style of furniture.
4. A quality of imagination and individuality expressed in one's actions and tastes: does things with style.
5. 1. A comfortable and elegant mode of existence: living in style.
   2. A mode of living: the style of the very rich.
6. 1. The fashion of the moment, especially of dress; vogue.
   2. A particular fashion: the style of the 1920s. See synonyms at fashion.
7. A customary manner of presenting printed material, including usage, punctuation, spelling, typography, and arrangement.
8. A form of address; a title.
9. 1. An implement used for etching or engraving.
   2. A slender pointed writing instrument used by the ancients on wax tablets.
10. The needle of a phonograph.
11. The gnomon of a sundial.
12. Botany. The usually slender part of a pistil, situated between the ovary and the stigma.
13. Zoology. A slender, tubular, or bristlelike process: a cartilaginous style.
14. Medicine. A surgical probing instrument; a stylet.
15. Obsolete. A pen.

tr.v., styled, styl·ing, styles.

1. To call or name; designate: George VI styled his brother Duke of Windsor.
2. To make consistent with rules of style: style a manuscript.
3. To give style to: style hair.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin stylus, stilus, spike, pointed instrument used for writing, style. See stylus.]

styler styl'er n.
styling styl'ing n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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