Concinnity
n.joyful, thoughtfulliterary
What it means
Elegant harmony among the parts of a whole.
Reach for it when giving rare formal praise to design or writing whose elements fit with proportion
The pavilion's concinnity came from repeated curves and restrained materials.
Choose between these
5- everyday
the work feels whole rather than fragmented
not when Unity can come from repetition while the result remains clumsy.
- warm
parts combine without discord
not when Harmony is broad and need not include concinnity's elegance or careful proportion.
- professional
coherence
the parts form a logically unified whole
not when Coherence can be plain or unattractive and says nothing about graceful design.
- formal
refined simplicity is the dominant praise
not when Elegance can belong to one element without harmony among all the parts.
- formal
proportion
relative sizes or amounts create balance
not when Good proportion is only one possible source of concinnity.
Said against
3- discord
- awkwardness
- incoherence
It naturally appears in
3- concinnity of design
The concinnity of design became visible from the central courtyard.
- concinnity of style
Critics admired the essay's concinnity of style and argument.
- concinnity among
Careful spacing created concinnity among the otherwise varied objects.
Where this comes from
Concinnity is rare outside literary and design criticism; harmony or coherence will serve most readers better.
- merriam-webster, noun sense 1 opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.