3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Pretty \Pret"ty\, adv
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Pretty \Pret"ty\, a. [Compar. {Prettier}; superl. {Prettiest}.]
[OE. prati, AS pr[ae]ttig, pr[ae]tig, crafty, sly, akin to
pr[ae]t, pr[ae]tt, 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}.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
pretty
adj 1: pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing; "pretty girl";
"pretty song"; "pretty room"
2: used ironically; "a fine mess"; "a pretty kettle of fish"
[syn: {fine}]
adv : intensifier, as in "pretty big"; "pretty bad"; (`jolly' is
used informally in Britain as in "jolly decent of him")
[syn: {jolly}]
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