[pret.ty] adj pret.ti.er ; -est [ME praty, prety, fr. OE praettig tricky, fr. praett trick; akin to ON prettr trick] (15c) 1 a: artful, clever b: pat, apt
2. a: pleasing by delicacy or grace b: having conventionally accepted elements of beauty c: appearing or sounding pleasant or nice but lacking strength, force, manliness, purpose, or intensity "~ words that make no sense --Elizabeth B. Browning" 3 a: miserable, terrible "a ~ mess you've gotten us into" b chiefly Scot: stout
4: moderately large: considerable "a very ~ profit" "cost a ~ penny" syn see beautiful -- pret.ti.ly adv -- pret.ty.ish adj
[2]pret.ty adv (1565) 1: in some degree: moderately "~ cold weather"
2: in a pretty manner: prettily "pop vocalists who can sing ~ --Gerald Levitch" usage Some handbooks complain that pretty is overworked and recommend the selection of a more specific word or restrict pretty to informal or colloquial contexts. Pretty is used to tone down a statement and is in wide use across the whole spectrum of English. It is common in informal speech and writing but is neither rare nor wrong in serious discourse "he may, if he be pretty well off or clever, qualify himself as a doctor --G. B. Shaw" "a return to those traditions of American foreign policy which worked pretty well for over a century --H. S. Commager" "the arguments for buying expensive books have to be pretty cogent --Times Lit. Supp." [3]pret.ty n, pl pretties (1736) 1 pl: dainty clothes; esp: lingerie
2: a pretty person or thing [4]pret.ty vt pret.tied ; pret.ty.ing (1909): to make pretty--usu. used with up "curtains to ~ up the room"