having beauty; very pleasing to the eye, ear, mind, etc.
used to express approval or pleasure
beautiful Idioms
the beautiful
- the quality of beauty
- those who are beautiful
A beautiful sunset.
The definition of beautiful is having qualities that are pleasing to the senses.
A gorgeous young woman, a mother dog taking care of her young and a picturesque sunset are each an example of something that is beautiful.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"beautiful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful>.
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beautiful. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful
beautiful
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"beautiful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful>.
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beautiful. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful
beautiful
adjective
- Having qualities that delight or appeal to the senses and often the mind.
- Excellent; wonderful: hit a beautiful shot from the tee.
interjection
Used to express approval or delight.
Related Forms:
- beau′ti·ful·ly
adverb
- beau′ti·ful·ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"beautiful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful>.
APA Style
beautiful. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful
beautiful
beautiful lovely pretty handsome comely fair 1
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).
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"beautiful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful>.
APA Style
beautiful. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful
Adjective
(comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)
- Attractive and possessing charm.
- Anyone who has ever met her thought she was absolutely beautiful.
- There's a beautiful lake by the town.
- (of the weather) Pleasant; clear.
- It's beautiful outside, let's go for a walk.
- 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!
Usage notes
The comparatives beautifuler and beautifuller, and the superlatives beautifulest and beautifullest have also occasionally been used, but are considered dated or obsolete.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"beautiful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful>.
APA Style
beautiful. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/beautiful
