| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| pretty |
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| SYLLABICATION: | pret·ty |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  pr t  |
| ADJECTIVE: | Inflected forms: pret·ti·er, pret·ti·est
1. Pleasing or attractive in a graceful or delicate way. See synonyms at beautiful. 2. Clever; adroit: a pretty maneuver. 3. Very bad; terrible: in a pretty predicament; a situation that has reached a pretty pass. 4. Ostensibly or superficially attractive but lacking substance or conviction: full of pretty phrases. 5. Informal Considerable in size or extent: a pretty fortune. | | ADVERB: | 1. To a fair degree; moderately: a pretty good student. 2. In a pretty manner; prettily or pleasingly. | | NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. pret·ties
1. One that is pretty. 2. pretties Delicate clothing, especially lingerie. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: pret·tied, pret·ty·ing, pret·ties
To make pretty: pretty up the house. | | IDIOM: | pretty much For the most part; mostly: “The . . . matter was pretty much dying down” (John Strahinich). | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English prety, clever, fine, handsome, from Old English prættig, cunning, from prætt, trick. | | OTHER FORMS: | pretti·ly —ADVERB
pretti·ness —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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