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handsome

[han-suh m]
See more synonyms for handsome on Thesaurus.com
adjective, hand·som·er, hand·som·est.
  1. having an attractive, well-proportioned, and imposing appearance suggestive of health and strength; good-looking: a handsome man; a handsome woman.
  2. having pleasing proportions, relationships, or arrangements, as of shapes, forms, or colors; attractive: a handsome house; a handsome interior.
  3. exhibiting skill, taste, and refinement; well-made: a handsome story; handsome furniture.
  4. considerable, ample, or liberal in amount: a handsome fortune.
  5. gracious; generous; flattering: a handsome compliment; a handsome recommendation.
  6. adroit and appealing; graceful: a handsome speech.
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Origin of handsome

1350–1400; Middle English handsom easy to handle (see hand, -some1); cognate with Dutch handzaam tractable
Related formshand·some·ish, adjectivehand·some·ness, nounsu·per·hand·some, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for handsome on Thesaurus.com
4. large, generous, munificent.

Synonym study

1. See beautiful.

Antonyms

1. ugly. 4, 5. small, miserly.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for handsome

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • And there was big, handsome, Eddie Arledge, whose father had treated him shabbily.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • He worships every handsome woman, who will allow herself to be polluted by his incense.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • If he had engaged himself to a handsome schoolmistress, it was his fancy, and he could afford it.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • Miss Glynne and her sister were known as "the handsome Miss Glynnes."

    The Grand Old Man

    Richard B. Cook

  • He was handsome and possessed a most intelligent and expressive countenance.

    The Grand Old Man

    Richard B. Cook

British Dictionary definitions for handsome

handsome

adjective
  1. (of a man) good-looking, esp in having regular, pleasing, and well-defined features
  2. (of a woman) fine-looking in a dignified way
  3. well-proportioned, stately, or comelya handsome room
  4. liberal or amplea handsome allowance
  5. gracious or generousa handsome action
  6. Southwest English pleasanthandsome weather
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noun
  1. Southwest English a term of endearment for a beloved person, esp in my handsome
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Derived Formshandsomely, adverbhandsomeness, noun

Word Origin

C15: handsom easily handled; compare Dutch handzaam; see hand, -some 1
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 handsome

adj.

c.1400, handsom "easy to handle, ready at hand," from hand (n.) + -some (1). Sense extended to "fair size, considerable" (1570s), then "having fine form, good-looking" (1580s). Meaning "generous" (in handsome reward, etc.) first recorded 1680s.

[Americans] use the word "handsome" much more extensively than we do: saying that Webster made a handsome speech in the Senate: that a lady talks handsomely, (eloquently:) that a book sells handsomely. A gentleman asked me on the Catskill Mountain, whether I thought the sun handsomer there than at New York. [Harriet Martineau, "Society in America," 1837]

Related: Handsomeness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper