How to Use debonair in a Sentence

debonair

adjective
  • Ian is just smooth and debonair, and he’s still got those groovy hips.
    New York Times, 8 June 2022
  • Amongst the most stunning and debonair guests, a few of our favorite looks so far were served by actress Jodie Turner-Smith.
    Greg Emmanuel, Essence, 1 Sep. 2022
  • David, meanwhile, went classic and debonair—his fashion M.O.—in a deep navy suit, complete with a white button-up, tie, and leather loafers.
    Christian Allaire, Vogue, 3 Oct. 2023
  • Sporting a posh accent and square jaw, Moore, who died Tuesday at age 89, looked the part of a movie star and a debonair international spy.
    Washington Post, 24 May 2017
  • Rickman's agent was flooded with offers, beseeching the actor to play more debonair ne'er-do-wells.
    Clark Collis, EW.com, 25 May 2023
  • Clay was very much a kind of Upper East Side debonair man-about-town, living in a big duplex, and Milton was very much downtown, an artist in turtlenecks and very long, wild hair.
    Christopher Bonanos, Daily Intelligencer, 8 Apr. 2018
  • Count Orlok, played by Max Schreck, is reclusive and antisocial, not a courtly debonair.
    Roy Schwartz, CNN, 2 Apr. 2022
  • Bow ties always look debonair á la James Bond, but Southern men can wear them in every color and pattern under the sun for a little extra flair.
    Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 8 June 2018
  • Elevate your slip-on style with this pair of dressy mules, which feature debonair pom-poms and pointed toes for a sophisticated take on the trendy footwear style but still feels unique.
    Alesandra Dubin, Travel + Leisure, 2 Oct. 2023
  • The more debonair gentlemen, depending on the occasion, may don exotics like the Eldredge, Trinity or Cape knots.
    Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 12 Feb. 2014
  • Hackman's dirty, racist cop, with all his flaws, is contrasted with a debonair and elusive drug kingpin, played by Spanish actor Fernando Rey.
    Adam Bernstein, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Aug. 2023
  • The video stars the London rapper as an impossibly debonair butler who seduces his boss before things take a rather ugly turn (with J Balvin popping up in the most unexpected of places).
    Charu Sinha, Vulture, 30 July 2021
  • Caine, who considers Wick his comrade even as he’s assigned to kill him, is as fierce as Wick, and Yen, beneath his aviator sunglasses, gives him a debonair impishness.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Who can play this debonair, rich, handsome billionaire who walks in, who is an accelerant and pushes everyone toward their truth?
    Selome Hailu, Variety, 11 Oct. 2023
  • On the top floor, Beaujard’s bedroom and the guest room feel breezy and debonair, in pale shades of white and yellow with accents of ebony and chocolate, evoking both the formal side of late 19th-century French design and fanciful postwar modernism.
    New York Times, 10 Nov. 2021
  • Whether selling wine or simply drinking it, Mr. Spurrier was a debonair figure, hair perfectly coifed, a handkerchief peeking out just so from his jacket pocket.
    Eric Asimov, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2021
  • Its communist agents are charming and almost debonair, contrary to previous depictions of screaming, hard-faced Soviet soldiers.
    Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2022
  • Cary Grant is the center of the action and, at this pivotal point in his career, he is suspended between the heroic and the debonair.
    Andrew Sarris, Video Review, September 1990
  • Canet is unexpectedly affecting as Mathieu’s debonair charm, for so long his stock-in-trade, suddenly seems inadequate in the face of Alice’s honesty, just as his career insecurities feel trivial.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Sep. 2023
  • Their history, past and recent, may be scribbled with viciousness and deprivation, but the debonair politeness, the good humor, of the Irish I met, who are still among the poorest people in the West, gave me to believe that calamity breeds character.
    G. Y. Dryansky, Condé Nast Traveler, November 1994

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'debonair.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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