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Entry 6 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Pretty

/prĭt'-ē/ · Pret·ty · IPA /ˈpɹɪt.i/
01 a. Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or dimi…
  1. 1.
    Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem.
    “This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever Ran on the greensward.” — Shak.
  2. 2.
    Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune.
  3. 3.
    Affectedly nice; foppish; -- used in an ill sense.
    “The pretty gentleman is the most complaisant in the world.” — Spectator.
  4. 4.
    Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.
  5. 5.
    Stout; strong and brave; intrepid; valiant.[Scot.]
    “[He] observed they were pretty men, meaning not handsome.” — Sir W. Scott.
Syn. Elegant; neat; fine. See Handsome.
02 adv. In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; -- less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather.
  1. 1.
    In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; -- less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather.
    “Pretty plainly professes himself a sincere Christian.” — Atterbury.