pulchritudinous
Americanadjective
Usage
What does pulchritudinous mean? Pulchritudinous is an adjective that means physically beautiful or attractive.Pulchritudinous is a grandiose way of saying someone or something is good-looking. It’s quite rare and, for that reason, usually used for humorous effect.Example: The makeup artist said my epidermis was pulchritudinous, which I guess means I have nice skin.
Etymology
Origin of pulchritudinous
An Americanism dating back to 1875–80; from Latin pulchritūdin- (stem of pulchritūdō ) + -ous
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.
Unlike the fleshy, pulchritudinous and radiant nudes of Rubens and Renoir, Mr. Pearlstein’s models are painted as ordinary human beings.
From Washington Post • Dec. 17, 2022
Camera angles, special effects and editing preserve the illusion that it is a pulchritudinous star leaping off a building or driving through a window rather than a man in drag.
From The Guardian • Feb. 10, 2018
The pulchritudinous guitar player has lately become the achy heart of Nashville—as well as most of its connective tissue.
From Slate • Apr. 2, 2013
"She was, I decided, the most astonishingly self-contained, pulchritudinous, remote, removed, inaccessible woman I had ever seen," Burton wrote in a diary passage quoted in Melvyn Bragg's 1988 biography of the Welsh actor.
From Chicago Tribune • Mar. 23, 2011
As in: Wait a minute— why is the pulchritudinous new girl now talking to my brother?
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
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.
