cute as a button

Idioms

Also, cute as a bug's ear. Pretty or attractive in a dainty way, as in That baby is cute as a button. Cute originally was a shortening of acute, for “sharp-witted and clever,” but in the early 1800s it also took on its current meaning. Other than that buttons and bug's hearing organs can be small, there is no good explanation for these similes.

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.

My gunbreaker, cute as a button she is.

From The Verge • Dec. 2, 2021

Thus, I can confirm I am cute as a button to the majority of people in the metropolis I live in, and yet I have a really hard time being pursued.

From Slate • Jan. 6, 2020

She's the best sleeper, great temperament, just great energy, she's cute as a button, and I'm lucky to have my fourth and final child.

From Fox News • Oct. 19, 2019

Before you say she looks cute as a button, though, you may want to compliment her intelligence.

From New York Times • Nov. 17, 2018

One minute she would be cute as a button, the next she would transform into a raging fiend.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023