aesthetic

Etymology

From German Ästhetik or French esthétique, both from New Latin aesthēticus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthētikós, “of sense perception”), from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai, “I feel”); Analysable as aesthe(sis) + -tic. Cognates include Proto-Germanic *awiz (“obvious”), Sanskrit आविस् (āvís, “manifestly, evidently”) and Latin audiō.

adj

1. Concerned with beauty, artistic effect, or appearance.
   Coordinate term: cosmetic
   It works well enough, but the shabby exterior offends his aesthetic sensibilities.
   If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare, You must get up all the germs of the transcendental terms, and plant them everywhere. 1881, W. S. Gilbert, Patience, act I
   If Euston is not typically English, St. Pancras is. Its façade is a nightmare of improbable Gothic. It is fairly plastered with the aesthetic ideals of 1868, and the only beautiful thing about it is Barlow's roof. It is haunted by the stuffier kind of ghost. Yet there is something about the ordered whole of St. Pancras that would make demolition a terrible pity. 1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 358
2. Beautiful or appealing to one's sense of beauty or art.
   The design of the lobby cannot be considered particularly aesthetic.
   The station was rebuilt yet again by British Rail in 1967, when large chunks of the 19th century station were demolished and replaced with 'modern' buildings that were less than aesthetic. January 12 2022, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: Wakefield Kirkgate”, in RAIL, number 948, page 28

noun

1. The study of art or beauty.
2. That which appeals to the senses.
3. The artistic motifs defining a collection of things, especially works of art; more broadly, their aura or “vibe”.
   Her most recent works have this quirky, half-serious ’90s teen culture–inspired aesthetic.
   I really like the goth aesthetic you've got going there.