sitting pretty


In a favorable position: “Abby finally got that promotion, and now she's sitting pretty.”

Words Nearby sitting pretty

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

How to use sitting pretty in a sentence

  • I was sitting pretty far back, and I went out before any of your family saw me.

    A Modern Instance | William Dean Howells
  • So, now, I was sitting pretty in our American slang and I did not want to marry.

    Warren Commission (1 of 26): Hearings Vol. I (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
  • Were sitting pretty now, Billy remarked as he rolled a cigarette, but I am wondering what we are going to eat and drink?

    The Moon Colony | William Dixon Bell
  • "I'm sitting pretty," Allen remarked casually, picking up the five cards that he had laid down before he dealt.

    The Plastic Age | Percy Marks
  • Jurymen were shortly to be drawn and things were "sitting pretty," as they say in poker.

    The Centralia Conspiracy | Ralph Chaplin

Other Idioms and Phrases with sitting pretty

sitting pretty

In an advantageous position; also, financially well off. For example, The terms of the will left Mary sitting pretty. Although the use of pretty in the sense of “advantageous” is much older, this colloquialism dates only from the early 1900s. It was given extra currency as the title of two different musicals, Sittin' Pretty (M. Moore, 1921) and Sitting Pretty (G. Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, 1924).

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.