pretty
prettiest; prettier; prettied
Use the word pretty to describe something with a delicate and pleasant appearance. Something that’s pretty is less powerful and intimidating than something that’s beautiful, the way a pretty floral raincoat is less intimidating than a beautiful film star.
The adjective pretty describes things that look nice, but it can also be used jokingly to say that something’s bad. If you say, “That’s a pretty mess you got me into!” that means it’s a bad mess. Pretty has an adverb form that means something is present to a moderate degree, another way to say fairly. You might be pretty sure you’ll be done studying by 9:00. That means you’re fairly certain but not positive.
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pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing“pretty girl”“pretty song”“pretty room”
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Synonyms:
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beautiful
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
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beautiful
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to a moderately sufficient extent or degree“pretty big”“pretty bad”
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synonyms:
fairly, jolly, middling, moderately, passably, reasonably, somewhat
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Antonyms:
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immoderately, unreasonably
to a degree that exceeds the bounds or reason or moderation
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immoderately, unreasonably
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(used ironically) unexpectedly bad
Look up pretty for the last time
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