lovely
Americanadjective
-
charmingly or exquisitely beautiful.
a lovely flower.
-
having a beauty that appeals to the heart or mind as well as to the eye, as a person or a face.
-
delightful; highly pleasing.
to have a lovely time.
-
of a great moral or spiritual beauty.
a lovely character.
noun
-
Informal. a beautiful woman, especially a show girl.
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any person or thing that is pleasing, highly satisfying, or the like.
Every car in the new line is a lovely.
adverb
adjective
-
very attractive or beautiful
-
highly pleasing or enjoyable
a lovely time
-
loving and attentive
-
inspiring love; lovable
noun
Usage
What are other ways to say lovely?
The adjective lovely describes people or things that are charmingly or exquisitely beautiful. How is it different from beautiful, handsome, and pretty? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of lovely
First recorded before 900; Middle English luvelich, Old English luflīc “amiable”; love + -ly
Explanation
You've probably heard the adjective lovely to describe something good looking, but did you know that, as a noun, lovely refers, specifically, to a beautiful girl employed as a photographer’s model? From the Old English luflic “affectionate, loveable,” comes lovely, an adjective that describes a person’s or thing’s attractiveness. Find the word love in there — it's something so attractive you can't help but love it. Lovely can also refer to something delightful. For example, a pretty selection of cakes and pastries arranged on a doily could be described as lovely. Anything from your girlfriend to a fresh coat of red paint on your motorcycle can be lovely.
Vocabulary lists containing lovely
Call of Beauty: Synonyms for "Beautiful"
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"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
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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.
See Examples For:
Occasionally, Göransson adds a lovely monotone layer of woodwinds or a keening chorus that sounds like the oldest song on Earth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Anderson’s use of far-flung needle drops and lovely original score work is, like everything in his film universe, planned down to exacting detail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Atkinson stretched the lead out to 35-3, going in after some blurring footwork from Marcus Smith and a lovely offload off the floor from Van Poortvliet.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Out of loneliness, she becomes involved with her downstairs neighbor, a lovely but sinister musician.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
They had just turned lovely Dulcinea into a gross, ordinary, ugly farm girl.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
Fanny and Stella, middle-class lovelies in hoop skirts, engage in a warm embrace.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025
Estrada’s top tip for growing these lovelies is to plant rhizomes horizontally and shallowly so that the top of the fleshy root is exposed.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2024
Hey my lovelies it’s with great disappointment that I willl not be performing this weekend @bbcstrictly due to testing positive with Covid 19.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2021
“So happy Dedicated Side B is OUT! Thank you lovelies for the immense support already!” she exclaimed in a separate Instagram post.
From Fox News ● May 21, 2020
I thought I should maybe apologize for what I did to her lovelies.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
Less than two miles away, at the Wallace Collection, we find its pendant, the even lovelier “The Rainbow Landscape.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Lifestyle influencers make a vocation out of selling some lovelier version of life, presenting a model to which we can aspire.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2023
Barrymore also previously interviewed Armstrong on her US daytime TV show, The Drew Barrymore Show, saying the 12-year-old "could not have been lovelier".
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2023
I was nervous, and she couldn't have been lovelier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2022
“There is a lovelier country even than that, where we shall go, by-and-by, when we are good enough,” answered Meg with her sweetest voice.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Each rendering is a wager against oblivion, and Mr. Armitage’s is the loveliest wager of the lot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Finn’s hyperactive sense of smell and bottomless appetite provide lighthearted comic relief, while the descriptions of Chase running are some of the book’s loveliest passages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
"It's when we're doing all the loveliest things and we're connected and we're joyful and we're find it very challenging at the moment to be apart."
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
“It’s just the loveliest thought, isn’t it, that they live on and exist within us,” says Al-Shamahi.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2025
I reached the edge of the pool of light and stepped through the last fringe of ferns into the loveliest place I had ever seen.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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.
