- present participle of fetch.
fetching
Americanadjective
adjective
-
attractively befitting
a fetching hat
-
charming
a fetching personality
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fetching
Explanation
To be fetching is to be attractive and beautitful. A fetching woman catches people's interest. When a dog fetches something, he grabs it, just like attractive sights take your interest. Fetching is a word for sights that capture your interest because of their beauty. Usually, this word applies to females: you're most likely to read about a lovely, fetching woman. A beautiful woman who everyone looks at is fetching: she grabs their attention. You could also say other things, like a gorgeous mountain or a well-designed building, are fetching if they grab your attention.
Vocabulary lists containing fetching
The Downstairs Girl
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The Shakespeare Stealer
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Moon Over Manifest
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The man, from Woking, said he had no idea the cards had any value until he read in his local newspaper about a single card fetching more than £6,000.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Right now, these roles are fetching base pay that ranges around $90,000 to $150,000, plus benefits.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Copper futures are up more than 16% this year, with U.S. prices often fetching a premium—an incentive to move metal to America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
She was also one of the most expensive, with one of her "infinity net" paintings fetching nearly $8 million at a 2019 auction.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
In a sullen silence she began preparing the meal, lighting the fire, fetching the water, boiling the rice, the baby astride her hip as before and whimpering unheeded.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
