1. Having qualities that delight the senses, especially the sense of sight. 2. Excellent; wonderful.
OTHER FORMS:
beauti·ful·ly —ADVERB beauti·ful·ness —NOUN
SYNONYMS:
beautiful, lovely, pretty, handsome, comely, fair1 All these adjectives apply to what excites aesthetic admiration. Beautiful is most comprehensive: a beautiful child; a beautiful painting; a beautiful mathematical proof.Lovely applies to what inspires emotion rather than intellectual appreciation: “They were lovely, your eyes” (George Seferis). What is pretty is beautiful in a delicate or graceful way: a pretty face; a pretty song; a pretty room.Handsome stresses poise and dignity of form and proportion: a very large, handsome paneled library.“She is very pretty, but not so extraordinarily handsome” (William Makepeace Thackeray). Comely suggests wholesome physical attractiveness: “Mrs. Hurd is a large woman with a big, comely, simple face” (Ernest Hemingway). Fair emphasizes freshness or purity: “In the highlands, in the country places,/Where the old plain men have rosy faces,/And the young fair maidens/Quiet eyes” (Robert Louis Stevenson).
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