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Synonyms

cute

American  
[kyoot] / kyut /

adjective

cuter, cutest

  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.

noun

  1. Informal. the cutes, self-consciously cute mannerisms or appeal; affected coyness.

    The young actress has a bad case of the cutes.

idioms

  1. meet cute,

    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.
cute British  
/ kjuːt /

adjective

  1. appealing or attractive, esp in a pretty way

  2. informal sexually attractive

  3. informal affecting cleverness or prettiness

  4. clever; shrewd

"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

Other Word Forms

  • cutely adverb
  • cuteness noun

Etymology

Origin of cute

First recorded in 1615–25; aphetic variant of acute

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.

Lighton was thinking about the traditional Hollywood “meet cute”—the typically adorable way pairs first encounter one another in rom coms.

From The Wall Street Journal

"They saw me walking back, they were shouting 'Alfie' and it was really cute."

From BBC

"I was such a cute baby," he said with satisfaction.

From Literature

“It’s a cute skunk, Mom, but I want to go over to Ezra’s house. Okay?”

From Literature

It had never occurred to him that a dragon could be cute.

From Literature

Definitions 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.