Urbane Definition: notably polite or polished in manner Example: "At first, I was a little thrown by the subtitle of Adam Gopnik’s new book, 'The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery.' Since Gopnik, a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, has written so urbanely on what seems like every aspect of human creation but in particular those creations called art, I assumed that the mystery he wanted to investigate would be that of the mastery displayed by our most bravura artists." — Adam Thirwell, The New York Times , 14 Mar. 2023 About the Word: Would you rather be urbane or suave? Here's the difference: urbane typically suggests composed cultivation and wide social experience, while suave tends to emphasize smooth frictionless dealings. Urbane and urban both come from the Latin urbanus , meaning "of the city; refined." Sagacious Definition: having or showing an ability to understand difficult ideas and situations and to make good decisions...