Standard Lemma guide

telegenic

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌtɛləˈd͡ʒɛnɪk/
  • rhymes with -ɛnɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: T EH2 L AH0 JH EH1 N IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having an appearance and exhibiting qualities thought to be attractive to television viewers.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The young politician was very telegenic.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

televisual

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From tele- + -genic, by analogy with photogenic.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: televisiu — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • Finnish: filmaattinen — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • Finnish: telegeeninen — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • French: télégénique — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • German: telegen — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • Irish: teiligineach — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • Italian: telegenico — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • Romanian: telegenic — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers
  • Spanish: televisual — having an appearance and exhibiting qualities attractive to television viewers