pretty
- pleasing or attractive to the eye, as by delicacy or gracefulness: a pretty face.
- (of things, places, etc.) pleasing to the eye, especially without grandeur.
- pleasing to the ear: a pretty tune.
- pleasing to the mind or aesthetic taste: He writes pretty little stories.
- (often used ironically) fine; grand: This is a pretty mess!
- Informal. considerable; fairly great: This accident will cost him a pretty sum.
- Archaic or Scot.. brave; hardy.
- Usually pretties. pretty ornaments, clothes, etc.
- a pretty person: Sit down, my pretty.
- fairly or moderately: Her work was pretty good.
- quite; very: The wind blew pretty hard.
- Informal. prettily.
- to make pretty; improve the appearance of (sometimes followed by up): to pretty oneself for a party; to pretty up a room.
- sitting pretty, Informal.
- in an advantageous position.
- well-to-do; successful.
Origin of pretty
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
Antonyms
Usage note
Related Words
beautifulcutecharmingpleasantelegantgood-lookingneatgracefullovelyhandsomeappealingbosscheerfulcomelydaintydarlingdelicatedelightfuleyefulfairExamples from the Web for prettier
Contemporary Examples
It helped me look in the mirror and feel younger and prettier.
After all, why would you want to read in a longer and prettier form something that's already been published?
The whole thing is a substantive sop to the GOP right wing wrapped in a prettier package.
“[The] overwhelming pressure to be thinner, prettier, and sexier begins subtly,” she says on her website.
The shorter your skirt was and the prettier you were, the more they wanted you in front of the client.
Historical Examples
But thou art a pretty lad, and the prettier for thy modest ways.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
Mr. Cairnduff had told him that Belfast girls were prettier than London girls.
The Foolish LoversSt. John G. Ervine
She had grown since I saw her last, and was prettier than ever.
Wilfrid CumbermedeGeorge MacDonald
Not a prettier shoe could be seen on the Boulevards, and scarce one so small.
She was pretty when a baby and prettier still as a schoolgirl.
Kent Knowles: QuahaugJoseph C. Lincoln
pretty
- pleasing or appealing in a delicate or graceful way
- dainty, neat, or charming
- commendable; good of its kindhe replied with a pretty wit
- informal, often ironic excellent, grand, or finehere's a pretty mess!
- informal lacking in masculinity; effeminate; foppish
- Scot vigorous or brave
- an archaic word for elegant
- a pretty penny informal a large sum of money
- sitting pretty informal well placed or established financially, socially, etc
- a pretty person or thing
- informal fairly or moderately; somewhat
- informal quite or very
- (tr often foll by up) to make pretty; adorn
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for prettier
pretty
adj.
Old English prættig (West Saxon), pretti (Kentish), *prettig (Mercian) "cunning, skillful, artful, wily, astute," from prætt, *prett "a trick, wile, craft," from West Germanic *pratt- (cf. Old Norse prettr "a trick," prettugr "tricky;" Frisian pret, Middle Dutch perte, Dutch pret "trick, joke," Dutch prettig "sportive, funny," Flemish pertig "brisk, clever"), of unknown origin.
Connection between Old English and Middle English words is uncertain, but if they are the same, meaning had shifted by c.1400 to "manly, gallant," and later moved via "attractive, skillfully made," to "fine," to "beautiful in a slight way" (mid-15c.). Ironical use from 1530s. For sense evolution, compare nice, silly. Also used of bees (c.1400). "After the OE. period the word is unknown till the 15th c., when it becomes all at once frequent in various senses, none identical with the OE., though derivable from it" [OED].
Meaning "not a few, considerable" is from late 15c. With a sense of "moderately," qualifying adjectives and adverbs, since 1560s. Pretty please as an emphatic plea is attested from 1902. A pretty penny "lot of money" is first recorded 1768.
pretty
pretty
n.
"a pretty person or thing," 1736, from pretty (adj.).
Idioms and Phrases with prettier
pretty
In addition to the idioms beginning with pretty
- pretty as a picture
- pretty much
- pretty penny, a
also see:
- in a fix (pretty pickle)
- kettle of fish, pretty
- sitting pretty