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Pretty vs Girl - What's the difference?

pretty | girl |

As an adjective pretty

is cunning; clever, skilful.

As an adverb pretty

is somewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.

As a noun pretty

is something that is pretty.

As a verb pretty

is to make pretty; to beautify.

As a proper noun girl is

(astronomy) a chinese constellation located near aquarius, one of the 28 lunar mansions and part of the black turtle.

pretty

English

Alternative forms

* pooty (nonstandard) * purdy (nonstandard) * (l) (dialectal) * (l), (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(er)
  • Cunning; clever, skilful.
  • * 1877 , George Hesekiel and Bayard Taylor, Bismarck his Authentic Biography , page 380:
  • In the end, however, it was a very pretty shot, right across the chasm; killed first fire, and the brute fell headlong into the brook [...].
  • Pleasant in sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.}}
  • * 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.
  • Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.
  • * 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.
  • * 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."
  • (dated) Moderately large; considerable.
  • *, I.2.4.vii:
  • they flung all the goods in the house out at the windows into the street, or into the sea, as they supposed; thus they continued mad a pretty season […].
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.}}
  • * 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.
  • (dated) Excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.).
  • * 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), , 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?"
  • (ironic) Awkward, unpleasant.
  • * 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.

    Quotations

    * (ironic use: ) * 1995 , Les Standiford, Deal to die for , page 123: *: "[...] you can still see where the kid's face is swollen up from this talk: couple of black eyes, lip all busted up, nose over sideways," Driscoll shook his head again, "just a real pretty picture."

    Antonyms

    * ugly

    Derived terms

    * just another pretty face * not a pretty sight * not just a pretty face * PDQ * prettify * prettiness * pretty as a picture * pretty boy * pretty-faced wallaby * Pretty Good Privacy * pretty much * pretty pass * pretty penny * pretty please * Pretty Polly * pretty-pretty * pretty-spoken * purdy * sitting pretty

    Adverb

    (-)
  • 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 [...].
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, page 539:
  • The Revolutionary decade was a pretty challenging time for business.

    Usage notes

    * When particularly stressed, the adverb (term) 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

    Noun

    (pretties)
  • 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, ''
  • I'll get you, my pretty , and your little dog, too!

    Verb

  • To make pretty; to beautify
  • * {{quote-book, 2007, Eric Knight, Lassie Come-Home citation
  • , passage=He sat on the hearth rug and began prettying the dog's coat.}}

    Derived terms

    * pretty up

    girl

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A young female human; (in contrast to boy ), a female child or young adult.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Mark Tran
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=1, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Denied an education by war , passage=One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools
  • Any woman, regardless of her age. (see usage notes)
  • A female servant; a maid. (see usage notes)
  • (uncommon) A queen (the playing card.)* Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523
  • (colloquial) A term of endearment. (see usage notes)
  • A girlfriend.
  • A daughter.
  • (UK, dialect, obsolete) A roebuck two years old.
  • (US, slang) Cocaine, especially in powder form.
  • * 1969 , Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life , Cash Money Content (2011), ISBN 9781451617139, page 43:
  • She had taught me to snort girl , and almost always when I came to her pad, there would be thin sparkling rows of crystal cocaine on the glass top of the cocktail table.
  • * 1977 , Odie Hawkins, Chicago Hustle , Holloway House (1987), ISBN 0870673661, page 175:
  • Elijah nodded congenially to the early evening regulars in the Afro Lounge, headed straight for the telephone hung midway between the mens and womens, his nose smarting from a couple thick lines of recently snorted girl .
  • * 2005 , K'wan, Hoodlum , St. Martin's Press (2005), ISBN 0312333080, page 185:
  • After about an hour or two of half-ass sex and snorting girl , Honey was zoned out. She flexed her still numb fingers, trying to find a warmth that didn't seem to come. Cocaine always made her numb.
  • *
  • Usage notes

    * Calling a grown woman a "girl" may be considered either a compliment or an insult, depending on context and sensibilities. In some cases, the term is used as a euphemism for virgin, to distinguish a female who has never engaged in sexual intercourse (a "girl") from one who has done so (and is a woman).

    Synonyms

    * (young female human) see also . * (cocaine) see also .

    Derived terms

    (Derived terms) * attagirl * B-girl * baby girl * ball girl * bar girl * girl crazy * big girl's blouse * birthday girl * Bond girl * boys and girls * bunny girl * busgirl * business girl * call girl * career girl * choir girl * college girl * comfort girl * cover girl * cowgirl * dancing girl * daygirl * diamonds are a girl's best friend * dirty girl * Essex girl * flower girl * fluff girl * gal * girl band * girl-boy * girl Friday * girl friend/girlfriend * girl group * Girl Guides * Girl Scouts * girl power * girl talk * girl wonder * girlcott * girlhood * girlie * girlish * girly * girlie girl * girly girl * golden girl * grrrl * hello girl * homegirl * It girl * Jersey girl * little girl * newsgirl * nautch girl * old girl * paper girl * party girl * poster girl * pot-girl * ring girl * riot grrrl * salesgirl * sarong party girl * schoolgirl * shopgirl * showgirl * sky girl * slave-girl * street girl * sweater girl * the girl next door * valley girl * working girl * young girl (girl)

    References

    See also

    * miss

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l)