I. ˈbyüd.ə̇fəl, -yütə̇- also -yüd.ēf-, -yütēf- adjective
( sometimes -er/-est )
Etymology: beauty + -ful
1. : marked by beauty:
a. : keenly delighting the senses as approaching perfection or the ideal in form, proportion, arrangement, grace, color, or sound
seldom have I seen … so beautiful a face. She was a blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed — A. Conan Doyle
the Song of Songs, beautiful , orientally sensuous, too glowing perhaps for western taste — H.O.Taylor
a beautiful sonorous and flexible language — H.T.Buckle
b. : delighting with a higher, more exalted appeal : calling forth great spiritual, intellectual, and aesthetic appreciation : lofty in effect
an Aquinas in his cell before a crucifix or a Narcissus … equally beautiful — W.H.Mallock
2.
a. : attractive or impressive through expressing or suggesting fitness, order, regularity, rhythm, cogency, or perfection of structure
this most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets — Isaac Newton
the deep canyon of Broadway, between those vast structures, beautiful but sinister — P.E.More
his arguments were beautiful and deserved to be true — Francis Galton
b. : perfect, nearly perfect, or extremely attractive through such qualities as honesty, devotion, charity, or self-sacrifice
young children not infrequently have an exquisitely beautiful saintliness of character — W.R.Inge
c. : marked by practically perfect unerring art, skill, finesse, technique, or polish
he made a beautiful shot on that leopard — Ernest Hemingway
its accurate and beautiful record of folk dialect — American Guide Series: Ind.
a beautiful book so technically perfect that the professional writer stands in awe of it — Saturday Review
d. : perfect as an illustration : outstanding as a type or model
a case of disease may be so typical in its exhibition of characteristic relations as to be called beautiful — John Dewey
3. : generally pleasing : fine , excellent , delectable : superlatively good : lacking anything detracting from enjoyment
beautiful weather
a beautiful friendship
a beautiful roast turkey
Synonyms:
lovely , beauteous , pulchritudinous , pretty , comely , bonny , fair , handsome , good-looking : beautiful , wide in its application and extreme in praise, describes a close approach to an ideal and indicates a quite keen delight in contemplation
O Cynthia, ten times bright and fair! … too divine art thou, too keen in beauty … how beautiful thou art — John Keats
after nursery rhymes they should learn equally beautiful songs — Bertrand Russell
the Deanery is now a beautiful private residence with herbaceous borders — E.V.Lucas
lovely suggests sensuous or emotional delights
Freydis now showed as the most lovely of womenkind. She had black plaited hair, and folds of crimson silk were over her white flesh, and over her shoulders was a black coat embroidered with little gold stars — J.B.Cabell
beauteous , a rather literary word, and pulchritudinous , a relatively new word uncommon outside journalism, stress rich appeal
young maidens came, beauteous and calm, like shapes of living stone, clothed in the light of dreams — P.B.Shelley
pretty suggests presence of grace, charm, vivacity, daintiness, or petiteness, an absence of perfection, ideality, stateliness, and dignity
she was pretty at all times … with her light-brown ringlets, her delicately tinged but healthful cheek, her sensitive, intelligent, yet most feminine and kindly face. But every few moments, the pretty and girlish face grew beautiful and striking, as some inward thought and feeling brightened, rose to the surface — Nathaniel Hawthorne
as a pretty household toy, Pussy was carried from Africa to Europe — Agnes Repplier
comely and bonny , which has a Scotch suggestion, stress pleasant wholesomeness and fitness
a quick brunette, well molded, falcon-eyed. … ‘ Comely, too, by all that's fair’ — Alfred Tennyson
your bonny face sae mild and sweet his honest heart enamors — Robert Burns
fair , less common as a synonym for beautiful in today's English, may suggest lightness or freshness
the girl was certainly fair to look upon. Many heavens were in her sunny eyes, and the outline of that arm of hers … was the very curve of beauty — Herman Melville
The words preceding refer more commonly to women than to men; handsome and good-looking refer about equally to men, women, and things. handsome suggests a pleasing appearance, due proportions, and a measure of dignity and taste
Cleveland was … a he-man, handsome with a certain bull-like pulchritude, which was the outer symbol of his inner courage — W.A.White
she was very handsome; a bold beauty, with shining black hair, red lips, and eyes not afraid of men — George Meredith
handsome houses rich in mahogany, plate, and pier glasses — Allan Nevins & H.S.Commager
good-looking is less expressive and is not rich in especial connotations
a good-looking young fellow of twenty-five. His cheeks were dyed with fine Saxon red … his blue eye opened well, and a profusion of fair hair curled over a well-shaped head — Herman Melville
II. noun
( -s )
: the abstract or ideal essence or principle of that which appeals to aesthetic tastes and dispositions — used with the
studying the beautiful