Pretty
WordNet
adjective
(1) Pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
"Pretty girl"
"Pretty song"
"Pretty room"
(2) (used ironically) unexpectedly bad
"A pretty mess"
"A pretty kettle of fish"
adverb
(3) Used as an intensifier (`jolly' is used informally in Britain)
"Pretty big"
"Pretty bad"
"Jolly decent of him"
WiktionaryText
Adjective
- Pleasant in sight or other senses.
- Having conventionally accepted elements of beauty, usually just physical attractiveness
- She was such a pretty girl.
- Not functional or supposedly so.
- pretty buttons
- Unpleasant (in some cases)
- pretty state of affairs
- Affectedly nice; foppish.
- Moderately large; considerable.
- He had amassed a pretty fortune.
Adverb
- somewhat, fairly, quite;
- Hey, that's pretty neat!
- People can run pretty fast when they're frightened!
- somewhat, fairly;
- It's pretty good, but not outstanding.
Usage notes
- When particularly stressed, the adverb serves almost to diminish the adjective or adverb that it modifies, by emphasizing that there are greater levels of intensity.
Noun
- Something that is pretty.
- "We'll stop at the knife store a look at the sharp pretties.
- 1939, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, The Wizard of Oz
- I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!
Verb
- To make pretty; to beautify