lovely
/ˈlʌv.li/ adjective, noun, adverb, proper noun
Forms lovelier loveliest lovelies
- adjective Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace. “It's a lovely day and the sun is shining.”
- adjective Nice; wonderful. “It would be lovely to have a little more money to spend.”
- adjective (obsolete) Inspiring love or friendship; amiable.
- adjective (obsolete) Loving, filled with love.
- noun (informal) An attractive, lovely person, especially a (professional) beauty. “a calendar depicting young lovelies in bikinis”
- noun Term of fond address. “Goodbye, my lovely.”
- noun A lovely object.
- adverb (informal) In a lovely fashion or manner; beautifully.
- adjective (archaic) Worthy of praise.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Martin County, Kentucky, United States.
Synonyms
beautiful charming lovable lovesome loving pretty darling cover girl pin-up adorable endearing
Etymology
From Middle English lovely, luvelich, lufli, from Old English luflīċ, luflīc (“amiable, loving, lovable”), equivalent to love + -ly.
From Middle English lovely, luveliche, from Old English luflīċe (“lovingly, amiably, kindly, dearly, with good will or love, willingly”), equivalent to love + -ly.
From Middle English lofly, lovely (“praiseworthy; laudatory”), equivalent to lofe + -ly. Cognate with Dutch loffelijk (“laudable, praiseworthy”), German löblich (“commendable, laudable, praiseworthy”), Swedish lovlig (“permissible”). More at lofe, love.
From lovely.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having such an appearance as excites, or is fitted to excite, love; beautiful; charming; very pleasing in form, looks, tone, or manner. "Lovely to look on." Piers Plowman.
- adjective Lovable; amiable; having qualities of any kind which excite, or are fitted to excite, love or friendship.
- adverb In a manner to please, or to excite love. [Obs. or R.] Tyndale.
Etymology [AS. luflic.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lovely”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details