handsome
Americanadjective
-
having an attractive, well-proportioned, and imposing appearance suggestive of health and strength; good-looking.
a handsome man;
a handsome woman.
- Antonyms:
- ugly
-
having pleasing proportions, relationships, or arrangements, as of shapes, forms, or colors; attractive.
a handsome house;
a handsome interior.
-
considerable, ample, or liberal in amount.
a handsome fortune.
- Synonyms:
- munificent, generous, large
-
gracious; generous; flattering.
a handsome compliment;
a handsome recommendation.
- Antonyms:
- miserly, stingy, ungenerous
-
adroit and appealing; graceful.
a handsome speech.
adjective
-
(of a man) good-looking, esp in having regular, pleasing, and well-defined features
-
(of a woman) fine-looking in a dignified way
-
well-proportioned, stately, or comely
a handsome room
-
liberal or ample
a handsome allowance
-
gracious or generous
a handsome action
-
pleasant
handsome weather
noun
Usage
What are other ways to say handsome?
Someone who is handsome is attractive with a well-proportioned appearance that is suggestive of health and strength. How does handsome compare with lovely, beautiful, and pretty? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
- handsomeish adjective
- handsomely adverb
- handsomeness noun
- superhandsome adjective
Etymology
Origin of handsome
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English hondsom, handsum “easy to control, handy”; cognate with West Frisian hānsum “easy to control, convenient,” Dutch handzaam “easy to manage”; hand, -some 1
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.
The director, who like Mr. Coppola has cast a lead actor who isn’t conventionally handsome, has, also like Mr. Coppola, outfitted him with hair that is somewhere between entrancingly marvelous and distractingly ridiculous.
The clothes fit fine and Aunt Pretty even said I looked handsome.
From Literature
As an experiment, I prompted Gemini to “design an AI course for a handsome and sophisticated Wall Street Journal columnist.”
After finishing the ugly job assigned to him, Cyril Radcliffe burned all his papers, refused his handsome fee of 40,000 rupees and fled the subcontinent.
Nature had meant his face to be staggeringly handsome, but the cruelty of the lines etched around his eyes and mouth made it impossible.
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.
