lovely
[ luhv-lee ]
/ ˈlʌv li /
adjective, love·li·er, love·li·est.
noun, plural love·lies.
Informal. a beautiful woman, especially a show girl.
any person or thing that is pleasing, highly satisfying, or the like: Every car in the new line is a lovely.
adverb
Nonstandard. very well; splendidly.
RELATED WORDS
alluring, engaging, pleasing, splendid, sweet, stunning, pleasant, delightful, delicate, delicious, gorgeous, graceful, enchanting, pretty, exquisite, handsome, captivating, picture, fair, knockout
Nearby words
- loveliness,
- lovell,
- lovelock,
- lovelonging,
- lovelorn,
- lovemaking,
- lover,
- lover's knot,
- lover's leap,
- lover, samuel
Origin of lovely
Synonym study
1, 2. See beautiful.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for loveliest
lovely
/ (ˈlʌvlɪ) /
adjective -lier or -liest
very attractive or beautiful
highly pleasing or enjoyablea lovely time
loving and attentive
inspiring love; lovable
noun plural -lies
slang a lovely woman
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
lovely
Old English luflic "affectionate, loveable;" see love (n.) + -ly (1). The modern sense of "lovable on account of beauty, attractive" is from c.1300, "applied indiscriminately to all pleasing material objects, from a piece of plum-cake to a Gothic cathedral" [George P. Marsh, "The Origin and History of the English Language," 1862].
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper