cute
[kyoot]
- attractive, especially in a dainty way; pleasingly pretty: a cute child; a cute little apartment.
- appealing and delightful; charming: What a cute toy!
- affectedly or mincingly pretty or clever; precious: The child has acquired some intolerably cute mannerisms.
- mentally keen; clever; shrewd.
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- 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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- meet cute, Informal.
- (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.
- 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cutely
Historical Examples
La Frochard administered a terrible pinch that pulled Louise away, then “mothered” her cutely.
Orphans of the StormHenry MacMahon
cute
- appealing or attractive, esp in a pretty way
- mainly US informal sexually attractive
- informal affecting cleverness or prettiness
- clever; shrewd
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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
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Word Origin and History for cutely
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