#Eye of the beholder meaning full

Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:īeauty is bought by judgement of the eye, Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, For example, we see a form in this passage from William Shakespeare’s 1588 comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost: Other very similar versions have been used throughout history. Those in the Epicurean, Skeptic, and Stoic schools thought of beauty as both objective and subjective.Īlthough the expression doesn’t appear to have been used then exactly as it is now, the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC, is credited with saying the similar saying everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. Indeed, the great Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle thought beauty something that could be measured objectively, in terms of symmetry, proportion, and balance. The debate over whether beauty is subjective or objective has been argued since at least the 3rd century BC, with subjective referring to a decision based on personal feelings and opinions and objective being the opposite, a decision made not by considering one’s individual point of view but instead considering the available facts. We’re often disagreeing, and I seem to always have to remind him that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I loved the choreography of our local company’s recent ballet, but my husband said it seemed too simple and that he couldn’t understand what I saw in it.

My mom took me to see her favorite play, but I found it so boring I fell asleep! You know what they say: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

On our field trip to the museum, my classmates couldn’t stop talking about this one particular painting, but I didn’t like it all I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When I asked my sister if she liked my newly renovated living room, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Mid-century modern isn’t her style.

Here are some example sentences using the phrase beauty is in the eye of the beholder: This variation has the same meaning and can be used in the exact same way.

You may also see or hear the phrase as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. In other words, the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder is used to express that beauty, or appeal in general, is subjective not objective (which gets at the origins of this phrase keep reading). Or, that what someone perceives as special and unique, another person thinks is ordinary and common.

For example, it can be used to indicate that what one person finds interesting, another person finds boring. It’s important to note that the saying doesn’t have to just apply to physical beauty, but can also apply to any judgement about someone’s or something’s appeal or desirability. What one person finds beautiful, another may find ugly.

#Eye of the beholder meaning full

Taken one step further to land on the full meaning intended when you hear or read the phrase today, its words are saying that not everyone has the same idea of beauty that different people will have different ideas and opinions about what is attractive or otherwise pleasing. The expression beauty is in the eye of the beholder is indicating that the beholder’s eyes, that gaze upon someone or something, decide if what they see is beautiful or not. Behold is another way of saying “to see.” Thus, a beholder is a person who sees, who observes or gazes upon something or someone. If you’re not familiar with the word beholder, let’s start there. What Does Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder Mean?Īlthough this phrase is considered an idiom, and typically idioms have figurative meanings that are difficult to figure out just by looking at the words that comprise them, we can look to the meanings of the individual words here to determine the definition of this expression.