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Pretty vs Sound - What's the difference?

pretty | sound |

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 sound is

the strait that separates zealand (an island of denmark) from scania (part of sweden); also sometimes called by the danish name,.

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

    sound

    English

    Alternative forms

    * soune (obsolete), sowne (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) sound, sund, isund, . See (l).

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Healthy.
  • He was safe and sound .
    In horse management a sound horse is one with no health problems that might affect its suitability for its intended work.
  • *
  • Complete, solid, or secure.
  • Fred assured me the floorboards were sound .
  • * Chapman
  • The brasswork here, how rich it is in beams, / And how, besides, it makes the whole house sound .
  • (mathematics, logic) Having the property of soundness.
  • *
  • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • (British, slang) Good.
  • "How are you?" - "I'm sound ."
    That's a sound track you're playing.
  • (of sleep) Quiet]] and deep.
  • Her sleep was sound .
  • Heavy; laid on with force.
  • a sound beating
  • Founded in law; legal; valid; not defective.
  • a sound title to land
    Hypernyms
    * (in logic) valid
    Derived terms
    * safe and sound * sound as a bell * soundly

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Soundly.
  • * Spenser
  • So sound he slept that naught might him awake.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (British, slang) Yes; used to show agreement or understanding, generally without much enthusiasm.
  • "I found my jacket." - "Sound ."

    Etymology 2

    * Noun: from (etyl) sownde, alteration of sowne, from (etyl) sun, soun, (etyl) son, from accusative of (etyl) sonus. * Verb: from (etyl) sownden, sounen, from (etyl) suner, (etyl) soner (modern sonner ), from (etyl) * The euphonic -d appears in the fifteenth century. (wikipedia sound)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sensation perceived by the ear caused by the vibration of air or some other medium.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:The warlike sound / Of trumpets loud and clarions.
  • A vibration capable of causing such sensations.
  • *
  • *:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
  • (lb) A distinctive style and sonority of a particular musician, orchestra etc
  • Noise without meaning; empty noise.
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:Sense and not sound must be the principle.
  • Synonyms
    * See also
    Troponyms
    * noise * quiet * silence
    See also
    * audible

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To produce a sound.
  • When the horn sounds , take cover.
  • (copulative) To convey an impression by one's sound.
  • He sounded good when we last spoke.
    That story sounds like a pack of lies!
  • * Shakespeare
  • How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues!
  • To be conveyed in sound; to be spread or published; to convey intelligence by sound.
  • * Bible, 1 Thessalonians i. 8
  • From you sounded out the word of the Lord.
  • (legal) Often with "in"; to arise or to be recognizable as arising within a particular area of law.
  • * '>citation
  • To cause to produce a sound.
  • He sounds the instrument.
  • (phonetics) To pronounce a vowel or a consonant.
  • The "e" in "house" isn't sounded .
    Synonyms
    * (to make noise)echo, reecho, resonate * See also
    Derived terms
    * empty vessels make the most sound * infrasound * instantaneous sound pressure * missound * outsound * second sound * soundage * sound-alike * sound alphabet * sound and light/sound-and-light show * sound barrier * sound bite/soundbite * sound bow * sound box * sound camera * sound card * sounded * sound effect * sound energy * sound engineer * sound engineering * sounder * soundex * sound film * sound hole * sounding board * sound law * soundless * sound like * sound man/soundman * sound off * sound out * sound pollution * sound pressure * sound projection * soundproof/sound-proof * sound recording * sound reproduction * soundscape * sound spectrum * sound stage/soundstage * sound structure * sound system * sound track/soundtrack * sound truck * sound wave * speech sound * speed of sound * surround-sound/surround sound * third heart sound * third sound * ultrasound * unsound * voiced sound

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) sound, sund, from (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (geography) A long narrow inlet, or a strait between the mainland and an island; also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean.
  • Puget Sound'''; Owen '''Sound
  • * Camden
  • The Sound of Denmark, where ships pay toll.
  • The air bladder of a fish.
  • Cod sounds are an esteemed article of food.
  • A cuttlefish.
  • (Ainsworth)

    Etymology 4

    (etyl) . More at

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • dive downwards, used of a whale.
  • The whale sounded and eight hundred feet of heavy line streaked out of the line tub before he ended his dive.
  • To ascertain, or try to ascertain, the thoughts, motives, and purposes of (a person); to examine; to try; to test; to probe.
  • When I sounded him, he appeared to favor the proposed deal.
  • * Dryden
  • I was in jest, / And by that offer meant to sound your breast.
  • * Addison
  • I've sounded my Numidians man by man.
  • test; ascertain the depth of water with a sounding line or other device.
  • Mariners on sailing ships would sound the depth of the water with a weighted rope.
  • (medicine) To examine with the instrument called a sound, or by auscultation or percussion.
  • to sound a patient, or the bladder or urethra

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A long, thin probe for body cavities or canals such as the urethra.