Pretty

Adjective

 * 1) Cunning; clever, skilful.
 * 2) * 1877, George Hesekiel and Bayard Taylor, Bismarck his Authentic Biography, p. 380:
 * In the end, however, it was a very pretty shot, right across the chasm; killed first fire, and the brute fell headlong into the brook [...].
 * 1) Pleasant in sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
 * 2) * 2010, Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 4 Feb 2010:
 * To escape a violent beating from sailors to whom he has sold a non-­functioning car, Jerry takes his stepfamily for a holiday in a trailer park miles away, where, miraculously, young Nick meets a very pretty young woman called Sheeni, played by Portia Doubleday.
 * 1) Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.
 * 2) * 2010, Lia Leendertz, The Guardian, 13 Feb 2010:
 * 'Petit Posy' brassicas [...] are a cross between kale and brussels sprouts, and are really very pretty with a mild, sweet taste.
 * 1)  Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance.
 * 2) * 1962, "New Life for the Liberals", Time, 28 Sep 1962:
 * Damned by the Socialists as "traitors to the working class," its leaders were decried by Tories as "faceless peddlers of politics with a pretty little trinket for every taste."
 * 1)  Moderately large; considerable.
 * 2) * 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.2.4.vii:
 * they flung all the goods in the house out at the windows into the street, or into the sea, as they supposed; thus they continued mad a pretty season [...].
 * 1) * 2004, "Because They're Worth it", Time, 26 Jan 04:
 * "What did you do to your hair?" The answer could be worth a pretty penny for L'Oreal.
 * 1)  Excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.).
 * 2) * 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Boston 1867, p. 75:
 * Some people are surprised, I believe, that that the eldest was not [named after his father], but Isabella would have him named Henry, which I thought very pretty of her.
 * 1) * 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The sun also rises‎‎, page 251:
 * "Oh, Jake." Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together." Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. "Yes", I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"
 * 1)  Awkward, unpleasant.
 * 2) * 1931, "Done to a Turn", Time, 26 Jan 1931:
 * His sadistic self-torturings finally landed him in a pretty mess: still completely married, practically sure he was in love with Tillie, he made dishonorable proposals of marriage to two other women.

Quotations

 * (ironic use:)
 * 1995, Les Standiford, Deal to die for, page 123:
 * "[...] you can still see where the kid's face is swollen up from this talk: couple of black eyes, lip all busted up, nose over sideways," Driscoll shook his head again, "just a real pretty picture."

Antonyms

 * ugly

Derived terms

 * just another pretty face
 * not a pretty sight
 * not just a pretty face
 * PDQ
 * prettify
 * prettiness
 * pretty boy
 * pretty-faced wallaby
 * Pretty Good Privacy


 * pretty much
 * pretty penny
 * pretty please
 * Pretty Polly
 * pretty-pretty
 * pretty-spoken
 * purdy
 * sitting pretty

Adverb

 * 1) somewhat, fairly, quite;
 * Hey, that's pretty neat!
 * People can run pretty fast when they're frightened!
 * 1) somewhat, fairly;
 * It's pretty good, but not outstanding.

Derived terms

 * pretty much
 * pretty well

Noun

 * 1) Something that is pretty.
 * "We'll stop at the knife store a look at the sharp pretties.
 * 1) * 1939, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, ''The Wizard of Oz
 * I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

Verb

 * 1) To make pretty; to beautify

Derived terms

 * pretty up

Adverbs for Pretty
innocently; delightfully; rosily; childishly; seductively;   alluringly;    unbelievably; charmingly; undeniably; naturally; artlessly; unaffectedly; sweetly; unusually; bewitchingly; altogether; remarkably; strikingly; unexpectedly; fascinatingly; wholesomely; radiantly; glowingly; unconsciously; pertly; smartly; artfully; particularly; uncommonly; matchlessly.

Thesaurus
a bit, a little, acceptably, adequately, adroit, aesthetic, aesthetically appealing, almighty, appealing, attractive, awfully, beauteous, beautiful, bonny, catchy, charming, clever, comely, cunning, cute, darling, decently, die, ducky, dulcet, elegant, endowed with beauty, euphonious, exceedingly, exquisite, extremely, eye-filling, fair, fairishly, fairly, fairly well, fetching, fine, flowerlike, good, good-looking, graceful, gracile, handsome, harmonious, heavy, in a measure, in a way, in some measure, incredibly, just, kind of, lovely, lyrical, mellifluous, melodic, melodious, mightily, mighty, moderately, more or less, musical, only too, passably, plaything, powerful, powerfully, presentably, pretty much, pretty well, pulchritudinous, quite, rather, real, really, reasonably, respectably, right, satisfactorily, scarcely, slightly, so, some, something, somewhat, sort of, terribly, terrifically, to a degree, to some extent, tolerably, toy, tuneful, unexceptionably, very, well enough, wicked, winsome, workmanlike

Alternative forms

 * pooty
 * purdy

Etymology
prættig:, corresponding to. Cognate with Dutch prettig:, dialectal German (East Friesland) prettig:. The development of the first vowel is not fully explained. For the sense-development, compare canny:, clever:.

Adjective

 * Finnish: nätti


 * Spanish: ingenioso, listo


 * Arabic: جميل
 * Armenian:
 * Azeri: göyçək
 * Basque: polit
 * Belarusian: прыгожы
 * Catalan: bonic
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 漂亮, 秀麗, 秀丽, 標緻, 标致, 好看
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: beleta
 * Finnish:, viehättävä
 * French:
 * German: ,
 * Greek:, , χαριτωμένος, ελκυστικός
 * Hebrew: מרוצה
 * Hindi: सुंदर, ख़ूबसूरत
 * Hungarian:
 * Irish:
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese: きれい, プリティ, 可愛い
 * Korean: 예쁜,   예쁘다, 아름답다


 * Latin:, ,
 * Norwegian: ,
 * Persian: قشنگ, زیبا, خوشگلی
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Punjabi: (sohniya)
 * Romanian: drăguţ, drăguţă
 * Russian: хорошенький, милый, миловидный, миленький, привлекательный, симпатичный
 * Scottish Gaelic: snog
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish:, ,
 * Swedish: vacker, fin, skön (older form),
 * Tagalog: maganda
 * Telugu: అందమైన (andamaina)
 * Thai:, สวย
 * Turkish: güzel
 * Ukrainian: гарний
 * Urdu: خوبصورت, سندر
 * Vietnamese: xinh xắn
 * Yiddish:


 * Finnish: sievä, viehättävä


 * Scottish Gaelic: snog


 * Finnish: sievä


 * Finnish: melkoinen


 * Finnish: kiva


 * Finnish: melkoinen, aikamoinen

Adverb

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 挺
 * Finnish: aika, melko


 * Russian: довольно
 * Spanish: bastante, bien
 * Swedish: rätt, ganska


 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 挺
 * Finnish: ihan, aika


 * Russian: довольно, вполне, достаточно
 * Spanish: bastante


 * : força


 * : ganska, rätt så
 * : ganska, rätt så