beau´ti|ful|ness

beau|ti|ful «BYOO tuh fuhl», adjective, noun.

–adj.

very pleasing to see or hear; delighting the mind or senses: »

The sky is a beautiful blue on a clear day. Great composers have written beautiful music we like to hear again and again.

–n.

the beautiful, that which has beauty, especially people or things that are beautiful: »

The young, the beautiful, the brave (Byron). Because I love the beautiful I must Love pleasure chiefly (Elizabeth Barrett Browning).

–beau´ti|ful|ly, adverb.

–beau´ti|ful|ness, noun.

Synonym Study adjective. Beautiful, lovely, handsome mean pleasing the senses or mind. Beautiful suggests delighting the senses by excellence and harmony, and often also giving great pleasure to the mind by an inner goodness: »

Looking at a beautiful painting always gives one satisfaction.

Lovely suggests appealing to the emotions and giving delight the heart as well as to the senses and mind: »

Her lovely smile shows a sweet disposition.

Handsome means pleasing to look at because well formed, well proportioned, etc.: »

That is a handsome phonograph.

Beautiful and lovely are usually not applied to men.

Usage In modern informal use beautiful is often applied to anything that a person likes very much: »

to have a beautiful time. Soup of the evening, Beautiful soup! (Lewis Carroll).