Pret"ty adjective
Etymology
OE.
prati, AS.
prættig,
prætig, crafty, sly, akin to
præt,
prætt, deceit, trickery, Icel.
prettugr tricky,
prettr a trick; probably fr. Latin, perhaps through Celtic; cf. W.
praith act, deed, practice, LL.
practica execution, practice, plot. See
Practice.
Wordforms
comparative Prettier ; superlative Prettiest
Definitions
- Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem.
This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever
Ran on the greensward.
Shak.
- Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune. "Wavering a pretty while."
Evelyn.
- Affectedly nice; foppish; -- used in an ill sense.
The pretty gentleman is the most complaisant in the world.
Spectator.
- Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.
- Stout; strong and brave; intrepid; valiant. Scot.
[He] observed they were pretty men, meaning not handsome.
Sir W. Scott.
Syn. -- Elegant; neat; fine. See Handsome.
