gainly

Gainly is an English adjective meaning graceful, well-proportioned, or attractive in appearance or bearing. It is most often applied to a person’s posture, movements, or overall carriage, and can also describe well-made objects that have a balanced, refined quality. In modern usage, gainly is considered archaic or literary and is rarely used in everyday speech; synonyms such as graceful, elegant, or comely are more common today.

The word gainly appears in Middle English and Early Modern English sources. Its precise origins are uncertain, but it is generally thought to derive from a root connected with grace or beauty rather than the contemporary sense of the verb gain. Over time the term fell out of common usage, surviving today mainly in historical texts or stylistic writing.

Gainly emphasizes a positive, unobtrusive grace in movement or form. It can describe a person with poised, proper bearing, or a thing that is well-proportioned or well made. The related noun gainliness expresses the quality of being gainly, while the opposite is ungainliness.

Examples: The dancer's gainly gait impressed the judges. A gainly figure in a tailored suit. See also ungainly, graceful, comely.