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cute

[kyoot]
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adjective, cut·er, cut·est.
  1. attractive, especially in a dainty way; pleasingly pretty: a cute child; a cute little apartment.
  2. appealing and delightful; charming: What a cute toy!
  3. affectedly or mincingly pretty or clever; precious: The child has acquired some intolerably cute mannerisms.
  4. mentally keen; clever; shrewd.
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noun
  1. the cutes, Informal. self-consciously cute mannerisms or appeal; affected coyness: The young actress has a bad case of the cutes.
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Idioms
  1. meet cute, Informal.
    1. (of a romantic couple) to meet for the first time in a charming or amusing way: In this type of movie the boy and girl always meet cute.
    2. Also meet-cute.a situation or occasion when potential romantic partners meet for the first time in a charming or amusing way: a classic Hollywood meet cute; his meet-cute with Jane in the bookstore.
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Origin of cute

First recorded in 1615–25; aphetic variant of acute
Related formscute·ly, adverbcute·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cute

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • "It's a kind of cute and old-fashioned house inside," he observed.

    Shavings

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • Paddy is mighty 'cute, and knows when he has a man to deal with.

    Ireland as It Is

    Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

  • I want to have from yourself what like the people are,—are they as hard-working, are they as 'cute as our own?

  • She was a small, cute girl with a rainbow of laughter wreathed about her.

    Rescue Squad

    Thomas J. O'Hara

  • The child was cute enough to have found that out for herself.

British Dictionary definitions for cute

cute

adjective
  1. appealing or attractive, esp in a pretty way
  2. mainly US informal sexually attractive
  3. informal affecting cleverness or prettiness
  4. clever; shrewd
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Derived Formscutely, adverbcuteness, noun

Word Origin

C18 (in the sense: clever): shortened from acute
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cute

adj.

1731, "clever," shortening of acute; informal sense of "pretty" is 1834, American English student slang. Related: Cuteness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper