beautiful
UK /ˈbjuːtɪ.fəl/ · US /ˈbju.tɪ.fəl/ adjective, noun
Forms beautifuls
- adjective Possessing beauty, impressing the eye; attractive. “Anyone who has ever met her thought she was absolutely beautiful.”
- adjective Used emphatically or ironically, after the noun it qualifies. “the house beautiful”
- adjective That one likes very much. “He was a beautiful person; he would drop everything to help you.”
- adjective Affording pleasure to any of the senses, especially that of hearing; delightful. “Beethoven's most beautiful sonata”
- adjective Impressing with charm in an intellectual or moral way, through inherent suitability or elegance. “The skater performed a beautiful axel.”
- noun Someone who is beautiful. Can be used as a term of address. “The man was faithful to his wife, ignoring the many blonde beautifuls who surrounded him wherever he went.”
Synonyms
beauteous attractive cute fair good-looking gorgeous sheen handsome hot lovely nice-looking pretty shapely fit clear fine nice pleasant sunny excellent
Antonyms
grotesque hideous homely plain misshapen repulsive ugly unbeautiful bad cloudy dull miserable
Etymology
From Middle English bewteful, beautefull (“attractive to the eye, beautiful”), equivalent to beauty + -ful. In this sense, largely displaced Old English fæġer (whence fair).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “beautiful”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details