different between beauty vs pretty

English

Etymology

From Middle English bewty, bewte, beaute, bealte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beauté (early Old French spelling biauté), from Vulgar Latin *bellit?s (“beauty”), from Latin bellus (“beautiful, fair”); see beau. In this sense, mostly displaced native Old English fæ?ernes, whence Modern English fairness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bju?ti/
  • (US) IPA^(key): [?bju?i]
• (Norfolk) IPA^(key): /?bu?ti/
• (Norfolk) Homophone: booty
• Rhymes: -u?ti

Noun

beauty (countable and uncountable, plural beauties)

1. The quality of being (especially visually) attractive, pleasing, fine or good-looking; comeliness.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered.

   • 1988, "… beauty and recollection, like danger, glamour, greed, hunger- everything but disappointment and desire- were concepts belonging to other people.” -Second Son, Robert Ferro
2. Someone who is beautiful.

   Brigitte Bardot was a renowned beauty.

3. Something that is particularly good or pleasing.

   What a goal! That was a real beauty!

4. An excellent or egregious example of something.

   He got into a fight and ended up with two black eyes – two real beauties!

5. (with the definite article) The excellence or genius of a scheme or decision.

   The beauty of the deal is it costs nothing!

6. (physics, obsolete) A beauty quark (now called bottom quark).
7. Beauty treatment; cosmetology.
8. (obsolete) Prevailing style or taste; rage; fashion.
   • 1653, Jeremy Taylor, Twenty-five Sermons preached at Golden Grove; being for the Winter Half-year, "The Marriage Ring"

     She stained her hair yellow, which was then the beauty.

9. (archaic, in the plural) Beautiful passages or extracts of poetry.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "beauty": natural, great, real, physical, exotic, inner, spiritual, strange, divine, visual, heavenly, intellectual, facial, attractive, sensuous, sensual, seductive, musical, austere, alluring, mathematical, geometric, astounding, bodily, pictorial.

Synonyms

• (property, quality): good-lookingness, gorgeousness, inspiration, loveliness, see Thesaurus:beauty
• (someone who is beautiful): belle, looker, good looker, see Thesaurus:beautiful person or Thesaurus:beautiful woman
• (something pleasing): gem, jewel

Antonyms

• (property, quality): repulsiveness, homeliness, ugliness

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Cebuano: byuti

Translations

See also

• usefulness

Interjection

beauty

1. (Canada) Thanks!
2. (Canada) Cool!

   It's the long weekend. Beauty!

Adjective

beauty (comparative more beauty, superlative most beauty)

1. (Canada) Of high quality, well done.

   He made a beauty pass through the neutral zone.

Verb

beauty (third-person singular simple present beauties, present participle beautying, simple past and past participle beautied)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make beautiful.

Further reading

• beauty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• beauty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English beauty.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bju?.ti/
• Hyphenation: beau?ty

Noun

beauty f (plural beauty's, diminutive beauty'tje n)

1. A beauty, looker, beautiful person
2. A beautiful other creature or thing

3. Human beauty, as the object or goal of cosmetics etc.

Synonyms

• schoonheid
• (beautiful thing only): juweeltje n, prachtexemplaar n

English

Alternative forms

• pooty, purdy (nonstandard)
• pratty (dialectal)
• prettie, pretie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English prety, preti, praty, prati, from Old English prætti? (“tricky, crafty, sly, cunning, wily, astute”), from Proto-Germanic *prattugaz (“boastful, sly, slick, deceitful, tricky, cunning”), corresponding to prat (“trick”) +? -y. Cognate with Dutch prettig (“nice, pleasant”), Low German prettig (“funny”), Icelandic prettugur (“deceitful, tricky”). For the sense-development, compare canny, clever, cute.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?p??ti/
• (US, dialectal) IPA^(key): /?p?ti/
• (US, rare) IPA^(key): /?p??ti/
• Rhymes: -?ti

Adjective

pretty (comparative prettier, superlative prettiest)

1. Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children, but less strikingly than something beautiful. [from 15th c.]
   • 2010, Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 4 Feb 2010:

     To escape a violent beating from sailors to whom he has sold a non-functioning car, Jerry takes his stepfamily for a holiday in a trailer park miles away, where, miraculously, young Nick meets a very pretty young woman called Sheeni, played by Portia Doubleday.

2. Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing. [from 15th c.]
   • 2010, Lia Leendertz, The Guardian, 13 Feb 2010:

     'Petit Posy' brassicas […] are a cross between kale and brussels sprouts, and are really very pretty with a mild, sweet taste.

3. (often derogatory) Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance; see petty. [from 15th c.]
   • 1962, "New Life for the Liberals", Time, 28 Sep 1962:

     Damned by the Socialists as "traitors to the working class," its leaders were decried by Tories as "faceless peddlers of politics with a pretty little trinket for every taste."

4. Cunning; clever, skilful. [from 9th c.]
5. (dated) Moderately large; considerable. [from 15th c.]
   • 2004, "Because They're Worth it", Time, 26 Jan 04:

     "What did you do to your hair?" The answer could be worth a pretty penny for L'Oreal.

6. (dated) Excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.). [from 16th c.]
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Boston 1867, page 75:

     Some people are surprised, I believe, that that the eldest was not [named after his father], but Isabella would have him named Henry, which I thought very pretty of her.

   • 1919, Saki, ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace:

     ‘This new fashion of introducing the candidate's children into an election contest is a pretty one,’ said Mrs. Panstreppon; ‘it takes away something from the acerbity of party warfare, and it makes an interesting experience for the children to look back on in after years.’

   • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The sun also rises, page 251:

     "Oh, Jake." Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together." Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. "Yes", I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

7. (ironic) Awkward, unpleasant. [from 16th c.]
   • 1931, "Done to a Turn", Time, 26 Jan 1931:

     His sadistic self-torturings finally landed him in a pretty mess: still completely married, practically sure he was in love with Tillie, he made dishonorable proposals of marriage to two other women.

   • 1877 "Black Beauty", Anna Sewell

     A pretty thing it would be if a man of business had to examine every cab-horse before he hired it

Antonyms

• ugly

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• Pretty in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Adverb

pretty (not comparable)

1. Somewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.
   • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, V:

     By the Sheets you have sent me to peruse, the Account you have given of her Birth and Parentage is pretty exact [...].

   • 1859, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, I:

     It seems pretty clear that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to the new conditions of life to cause any appreciable amount of variation [...].

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, page 539:

     The Revolutionary decade was a pretty challenging time for business.

2. (dialect) Prettily, in a pretty manner.

Usage notes

• When particularly stressed, the adverb pretty serves almost to diminish the adjective or adverb that it modifies, by emphasizing that there are greater levels of intensity.

Derived terms

• pretty much
• pretty well

Translations

Noun

pretty (plural pretties)

1. A pretty person; a term of address to a pretty person.
   • 1939, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, The Wizard of Oz

     I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

2. Something that is pretty.

   We'll stop at the knife store and look at the sharp pretties.

Verb

pretty (third-person singular simple present pretties, present participle prettying, simple past and past participle prettied)

1. To make pretty; to beautify

Derived terms

• pretty up

Anagrams

• Pettry