pretty
adjective · adverb · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Pleasant to the sight or other senses.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
priteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹɪti
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.
Cunning; clever, skilful.
adverb
Somewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.
noun
A pretty person; a term of address to a pretty person.
verb
To make pretty; to beautify
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
Used this way, pretty is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use pretty
- “That is a pretty dress you are wearing today.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
To some degree.
Use special care in dressing, making-up, etc.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.