beautiful
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
English
Etymology
(1520) From beauty + Germanic -ful (“‘full of’”). Displaced earlier English sheen "beautiful" (from Middle English schene "beautiful", from Old English scīene "beautiful"), Middle English wliti "beautiful", from Old English wlitiġ "beautiful").
Pronunciation
- enPR: byo͞oʹtĭ-fəl, IPA: /ˈbjuːtɪfəl/, SAMPA: /"bju:tIf@l/
- Audio (US)help, file
- Hyphenation: beau‧ti‧ful
Adjective
beautiful (comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)
|
Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- possessing charm and attractive
- Anyone who has ever met her thought she was absolutely beautiful.
- (of the weather) pleasant; clear.
- well executed
- The skater performed a beautiful axel.
- (as a pro-sentence) How beautiful that is!
- Beautiful! What a catch! (referring to an athlete catching a ball)
- (as a pro-sentence; ironic) How unfortunate that is!
- Beautiful! I dropped the soup on the floor!
Synonyms
- (possessing charm and attractive): attractive, cute, fair, good-looking, gorgeous, handsome, hot (slang), lovely, nice-looking, pretty, shapely, fit (slang)
- (of the weather): clear, fine, nice, pleasant, sunny
- (well executed): excellent, exceptional, good, great, marvellous/marvelous, perfect, stylish, wonderful
- (ironic: how unfortunate): great, marvellous/marvelous, nice, very nice, wonderful (any of these can be prefixed with an intensifier such as bloody, damned or just)
- See also Wikisaurus:beautiful
Antonyms
- (possessing charm and attractive): grotesque, hideous, homely, plain, misshapen, repulsive, ugly
- (of the weather): bad, cloudy, dull, miserable, overcast, rainy, wet
- (well executed): average, bad, mediocre, poor, shoddy, substandard, terrible, weak
Derived terms
Related terms
- beauty
- See also Wikisaurus:beautiful woman
Translations
possessing charm and attractive
of weather: pleasant, clear
well executed
ironic: how unfortunate
