PRETTY


Meaning of PRETTY in English

(prettier, prettiest)

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.

1.

If you describe someone, especially a girl, as ~, you mean that they look nice and are attractive in a delicate way.

She’s a very charming and very ~ girl.

ADJ

prettily

She smiled again, prettily.

ADV

prettiness

Her prettiness had been much admired.

N-UNCOUNT

2.

A place or a thing that is ~ is attractive and pleasant, in a charming but not particularly unusual way.

Whitstable is still a very ~ little town.

ADJ

prettily

The living-room was prettily decorated.

ADV

prettiness

...shells of quite unbelievable prettiness.

N-UNCOUNT

3.

You can use ~ before an adjective or adverb to mean ‘quite’ or ‘rather’. (INFORMAL)

I had a ~ good idea what she was going to do...

Pretty soon after my arrival I found lodgings.

ADV: ADV adj/adv

4.

Pretty much or ~ well means ‘almost’. (INFORMAL)

His new government looks ~ much like the old one...

PHRASE

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .