gracious

gracious
    adj 1: characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of
           spirit; "gracious even to unexpected visitors"; "gracious
           living"; "he bears insult with gracious good humor" [ant:
           {ungracious}]
    2: characterized by kindness and warm courtesy especially of a
       king to his subjects; "our benignant king" [syn: {benignant},
       {gracious}]
    3: exhibiting courtesy and politeness; "a nice gesture" [syn:
       {courteous}, {gracious}, {nice}]
    4: disposed to bestow favors; "thanks to the gracious gods"
    

Gracious \Gra"cious\ (gr[=a]"sh[u^]s), a. [F. gracieux, L.
   gratiosus. See {Grace}.]
   1. Abounding in grace or mercy; manifesting love, or
      bestowing mercy; characterized by grace; beneficent;
      merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor;
      condescending; as, his most gracious majesty.
      [1913 Webster]

            A god ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. --Neh.
                                                  ix. 17.
      [1913 Webster]

            So hallowed and so gracious in the time. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Abounding in beauty, loveliness, or amiability; graceful;
      excellent.
      [1913 Webster]

            Since the birth of Cain, the first male child, . . .
            There was not such a gracious creature born. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Produced by divine grace; influenced or controlled by the
      divine influence; as, gracious affections.

   Syn: Favorable; kind; benevolent; friendly; beneficent;
        benignant; merciful.
        [1913 Webster]
    

172 Moby Thesaurus words for "gracious":
      Bohemian, Christian, Christlike, Christly, accommodating, affable,
      affectionate, agreeable, amiable, amicable, approachable,
      attentive, beneficent, benevolent, benign, benignant, bighearted,
      blissful, bonhomous, bounteous, bountiful, brotherly, casual,
      cheerful, chivalrous, civil, civilized, clubby, compassionate,
      compatible, complaisant, compliant, congenial, considerate,
      cordial, courteous, courtly, cultivated, cultured, dainty, decent,
      deferential, degage, delicate, desirable, discriminating,
      easygoing, elegant, en rapport, enjoyable, fair, fair and pleasant,
      familiar, fastidious, felicific, felicitous, fine, folksy,
      forthcoming, fraternal, free, free and easy, freehanded,
      freehearted, friendly, gallant, generous, genial, giving, good,
      good-natured, goodly, graceful, gracile, grateful, gratifying,
      greathearted, handsome, harmonious, haymish, heart-warming, hearty,
      homely, homey, honeyed, hospitable, human, humane, indulgent,
      informal, irregular, kind, kindhearted, kindly, kindly-disposed,
      large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, likable, loose, loving,
      magnanimous, mannered, mellifluous, mellow, munificent, natural,
      neighborly, nice, obliging, offhand, offhanded, oh, open,
      openhanded, openhearted, outgoing, overindulgent, overpermissive,
      permissive, plain, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable,
      pleasure-giving, pleasureful, polished, polite, princely, profuse,
      receptive, refined, relaxed, respectful, rewarding, satisfying,
      simple, sociable, softhearted, solicitous, sophisticated, starchy,
      stately, stintless, subtle, sweet, sympathetic, sympathizing,
      tactful, tender, tenderhearted, thoughtful, unaffected, unassuming,
      unceremonious, unconstrained, unconventional, ungrudging,
      unofficial, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting, unstudied,
      urbane, warm, warm-hearted, warmhearted, welcome, welcoming,
      well-mannered