beautiful

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/ˈbjuːtɪfəl/
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Strong pleasure in appearance, sound, thought, action, or feeling, with formal use for the ideal of beauty and conversational use as a warm or ironic response.
Practice using beautiful in conversation until it feels natural

Examples

  • You found the missing file? Beautiful.
  • Beautiful! That is exactly what we needed.
  • The philosopher wrote about truth, goodness, and the beautiful.
  • Beautiful, now we can start the show.
  • The exhibition asks how different cultures define the beautiful.

Similar words

superb
great
wonderful
fantastic
lovely
attractive
handsome
exquisite
brilliant
ideal

Meanings

Very pleasing or attractive

adjective
everyday
neutral
Pleasing the eye, ear, mind, or feelings in a strong and often graceful way.

Usage

Use beautiful for people, places, objects, sounds, ideas, and moments that give a deep kind of pleasure, not only for physical appearance.

Examples

  • The lake looked beautiful at sunrise.
  • She wore a beautiful blue dress to the ceremony.
  • The orchestra played a beautiful melody.
  • That was a beautiful explanation of a difficult idea.
  • They found a beautiful little village beyond the hills.

Common mistakes

Beautiful is used as an adverb, or beauty is needed for the noun.
IncorrectCorrect
She sings beautiful. She sings beautifully.
The beautiful of the garden surprised us. The beauty of the garden surprised us.
This view is very beauty. This view is very beautiful.

Similar words

lovely
gorgeous
attractive
pretty
handsome
exquisite
stunning

Excellent or deeply satisfying

adjective
everyday
informal
Very good, skillful, kind, enjoyable, or satisfying, especially when admiration is part of the feeling.

Usage

Use beautiful for praise that feels warmer than good, such as a beautiful pass, a beautiful solution, or a beautiful gesture.

Examples

  • The midfielder made a beautiful pass through the defence.
  • It was a beautiful thing to do for a stranger.
  • The chef served a beautiful roast with crisp potatoes.
  • Her argument had a beautiful simplicity.
  • The team produced a beautiful piece of engineering.

Common mistakes

Beautiful is overused where good, correct, or kind would say the meaning more plainly.
IncorrectCorrect
The answer is mathematically beautiful because it equals four. The answer is mathematically correct because it equals four.
He behaved beautiful during dinner. He behaved beautifully during dinner.
That was a beautiful error in the code. That was a serious error in the code.

Similar words

excellent
wonderful
superb
brilliant
splendid
fine

The ideal of beauty

noun
philosophy
formal
With the, beauty understood as an ideal, a concept, or beautiful people and things considered together.

Usage

Use the beautiful in formal, literary, or philosophical writing, and use beauty for the ordinary noun in everyday speech.

Examples

  • The philosopher wrote about truth, goodness, and the beautiful.
  • The exhibition asks how different cultures define the beautiful.
  • Her essays treat the beautiful as a moral and emotional force.
  • The poem turns from grief toward the beautiful.
  • For the artist, the beautiful was never separate from ordinary life.

Common mistakes

The article the is dropped, or beautiful is used where the everyday noun beauty is needed.
IncorrectCorrect
Artists search for beautiful in ordinary life. Artists search for the beautiful in ordinary life.
I love the beautiful of this song. I love the beauty of this song.
The museum studies a beautiful. The museum studies the beautiful.

Similar words

beauty
ideal
aesthetic ideal
loveliness

Expression of approval

interjection
conversation
informal
Used to show delight, approval, or satisfaction, sometimes ironically when something has gone wrong.

Usage

Use beautiful as a standalone response when something pleases or impresses, and rely on tone or context if the meaning is ironic.

Examples

  • Beautiful! That is exactly what we needed.
  • You found the missing file? Beautiful.
  • Beautiful, now we can start the show.
  • The train is delayed again? Beautiful.
  • Beautiful shot, right into the corner.

Common mistakes

The interjection is treated as a full sentence in formal writing, or irony is missed.
IncorrectCorrect
The minutes record: Beautiful. The minutes record that the plan was approved.
Beautiful, the server crashed again means approval. Beautiful, the server crashed again is ironic.
Beautiful you solved it. Beautiful, you solved it.

Similar words

great
excellent
wonderful
fantastic
brilliant

Usage

Use beautiful broadly for deep pleasure or admiration, choose beautifully for the adverb, and use beauty as the everyday noun.

Common mistakes

She sings beautiful should be She sings beautifully, and the beautiful of the garden should be the beauty of the garden.

Etymology

From Middle English bewteful and beautefull, built from beauty plus -ful. The noun use for what possesses beauty is later and usually appears as the beautiful.

FAQ

What does beautiful mean?

Beautiful means strongly pleasing or attractive to the eye, ear, mind, or feelings.

Can beautiful mean excellent?

Yes. Beautiful can praise something skillful, kind, satisfying, or very well done, as in a beautiful pass.

Is beautiful a noun?

Beautiful is mainly an adjective, but the beautiful can mean the ideal or concept of beauty in formal writing.

Is beautiful an adverb?

No. The adverb is beautifully, as in She sings beautifully.

What are the comparative and superlative forms of beautiful?

Use more beautiful and most beautiful, not beautifuller or beautifullest.

Can beautiful be used for men?

Yes, but handsome is more common for a man's appearance, while beautiful often sounds more intense or poetic.

What does Beautiful! mean by itself?

Beautiful! can show approval or delight, and it can also be ironic when something has gone badly.

Where does beautiful come from?

Beautiful comes from Middle English forms built from beauty plus -ful.

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