PRETTILY

prettily

(adverb) in a pretty manner; “all this is most prettily done”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adverb

prettily (comparative more prettily, superlative most prettily)

In a pretty manner.

Very badly; terribly.

Source: Wiktionary


Pret"ti*ly, adv.

Definition: In a pretty manner.

PRETTY

Pret"ty, a. [Compar. Prettier; superl. Prettiest.] Etym: [OE. prati, AS. prættig, prætig, crafty, sly, akin to præt, prætt, deceit, trickery, Icel. prettugr tricky, prettr a trick; probably fr. Latin, perhaps through Celtic; cf. W. praith act, deed, practice, LL. practica execution, practice, plot. See Practice.]

1. Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem. This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever Ran on the greensward. Shak.

2. Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune. "Wavering a pretty while." Evelyn.

3. Affectedly nice; foppish; -- used in an ill sense. The pretty gentleman is the most complaisant in the world. Spectator.

4. Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.

5. Stout; strong and brave; intrepid; valiant. [Scot.] [He] observed they were pretty men, meaning not handsome. Sir W. Scott.

Syn.

– Elegant; neat; fine. See Handsome.

Pret"ty, adv.

Definition: In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; -- less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather. Pretty plainly professes himself a sincere Christian. Atterbury.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

22 May 2025

BOLLARD

(noun) a strong post (as on a wharf or quay or ship for attaching mooring lines); “the road was closed to vehicular traffic with bollards”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, on 25 September 2016, the Birla Institute of Management Technology (India) in Uttar Pradesh, India, constructed the largest coffee cups pyramid consisting of 23,821 cups. They used paper takeaway coffee cups to build the pyramid.

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