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What is the difference between beautiful and stunning?

beautiful | stunning |

As adjectives the difference between beautiful and stunning

is that beautiful is attractive and possessing charm while stunning is having an effect that stuns.

As a verb stunning is

present participle of lang=en.

beautiful

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Attractive and possessing charm.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=5 citation , passage=‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’}}
  • (of the weather) Pleasant; clear.
  • Well executed.
  • (as a pro-sentence ) How beautiful that is!
    • (referring to an athlete catching a ball)
  • (as a pro-sentence; ironic ) How unfortunate that is!

    • Usage notes

    The comparatives beautifuler' and '''beautifuller''', and the superlatives '''beautifulest''' and ' beautifullest have also occasionally been used, but are considered dated or obsolete.

    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 * great, marvellous/marvelous, nice, very nice, wonderful (any of these can be prefixed with an intensifier such as'' bloody, damned ''or just) * See also

    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

    * beautiful armadillo * beautiful game * beautiful people * beautifully * beautifulness

    Related terms

    * beauty ** See also

    Statistics

    * English words suffixed with -ful 1000 English basic words

    stunning

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having an effect that stuns.
    • The stunning jolt from the taser gun made the criminal stop fleeing.
  • Exceptionally beautiful or attractive.
    • That woman is stunning !
  • Amazing (very good).
    • The film was stunning .
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=So it was against the run of play that their London rivals took the lead two minutes before the interval through Drogba. He rolled William Gallas inside the area before flashing a stunning finish high past keeper Carlo Cudicini.}}

    Verb

    (head)