Urbane meaning

Adjective: urbane

Pronunciation: (ur’beyn)

Urbane meaning: Showing a very high degree of refinement and greater assurance that comes from wide social experience.

Synonyms: polished, refined, svelte, sophisticated, suave.

Quotations: Ralph Waldo Emerson – Bookworm, break this sloth urbane; A greater spirit bids thee forth.Than the gray dreams which thee detain.

Timothy Ferris – The differences between the two men were pronounced. Galileo was an urbane gentleman who loved wine which he described as “light held together by moisture”, women he had three children by his mistress, Marina Gamba, and song he was an accomplished musician. Kepler sneezed when he drank wine, had little luck with women, and heard his music in the stars. The deep organ-tones of religiosity and mysticism that resounded through Kepler’s work struck Galileo as anachronistic and more than a bit embarrassing. Kepler suspected as much and pled with Galileo to please “not hold against me my rambling and my free way of speaking about nature.” Galileo never answered his letter.

Phillis McGinley – Who could deny that privacy is a jewel? It has always been the mark of privilege, the distinguishing feature of a truly urbane culture. Out of the cave, the tribal tepee, the pueblo, the community fortress, man emerged to build himself a house of his own with a shelter in it for himself and his diversions. Every age has seen it so. The poor might have to huddle together in cities for need’s sake, and the frontiersman cling to his neighbors for the sake of protection. But in each civilization, as it advanced, those who could afford it chose the luxury of a withdrawing-place.

is a warning against complacency. A connection with the incomprehensible achieved only through immersion in contemporary life, a moment of awareness of the gap between your perception and understanding. It is the urbane corollary to the antique sublime.