different between pulchritudinous vs beautiful

English

Etymology

Latin pulchrit?d? (“pulchritude”) +? -ous, from pulcher (“beautiful”) + -t?d?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?lk???tju?d?n?s/

Adjective

pulchritudinous (comparative more pulchritudinous, superlative most pulchritudinous)

1. (literary) Having great physical beauty.
   • 1994, Orson Scott Card, The Ships of Earth [1]:

     But Shedemei had long since grown out of her adolescent jealousy of pulchritudinous girls.

   • 1966, Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress [2]:

     “The first example in each series,” Mike offered, “would be, on the basis of my associational analyses of such data, of such pulchritudinous value as to please any healthy, mature human male.”

   • 1998, Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat in a Flamingo Fedora [3]:

     “I had standing instructions to let any pulchritudinous females into Mr. Cooke’s dressing room,” Mike admitted.

     “Pulchritudinous? He really said that?”

     “No, I said that.”

Synonyms

• comely

Derived terms

• pulchritudinously

Related terms

• pulchritude

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English bewteful, beautefull (“attractive to the eye, beautiful”), equivalent to beauty +? -ful. Largely displaced Old English fæ?er (whence fair).

Pronunciation

• enPR: byo?o?t?-f?l, IPA^(key): /?bju?t?f?l/
• Hyphenation: beau?ti?ful

Adjective

beautiful (comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)

1. Attractive and possessing beauty.

2. Good, admirable.

3. (of the weather) Pleasant; clear.

4. Well executed.

Usage notes

• When used to refer to human appearance, the word is more commonly used for women, with handsome being more common for men, though neither is incorrect. For a man, beautiful could connote a more delicate or androgynous appearance.
• The comparatives beautifuler and beautifuller, and the superlatives beautifulest and beautifullest have also occasionally been used, but are nonstandard.

Synonyms

• (possessing charm and attractive): beauteous, attractive, cute, fair, good-looking, gorgeous, sheen, handsome, hot (slang), lovely, nice-looking, pretty, shapely, fit (slang)
• (of the weather): clear, fine, nice, pleasant, sunny
• (well executed): excellent, exceptional, good, great, marvellous/marvelous, perfect, stylish, wonderful
• (ironic: how unfortunate): great, marvellous/marvelous, nice, very nice, wonderful (any of these can be prefixed with an intensifier such as bloody, damned or just)
• See also Thesaurus:beautiful

Antonyms

• (possessing charm and attractive): grotesque, hideous, homely, plain, misshapen, repulsive, ugly; unbeautiful
• (of the weather): bad, cloudy, dull, miserable, overcast, rainy, wet
• (well executed): average, bad, mediocre, poor, shoddy, substandard, terrible, weak

Derived terms

Related terms

• beauty
  • See also Thesaurus:beautiful woman

Translations

Noun

beautiful (plural beautifuls)

1. Someone who is beautiful. Can be used as a term of address.