comely

adjective

come·ly ˈkəm-lē

also ˈkōm-,

or ˈkäm-

comelier; comeliest

Synonyms of comely next

: pleasurably conforming to notions of good appearance, suitability, or proportion

Going in with him, they observed that all was neat and comely …—

Willa Cather

: having a pleasing appearance : not homely or plain

a comely young woman

comeliness noun

Did you know?

Comely Has a Broad and Beautiful History

Although comely is now typically used to describe the appearance of human beings, it was once used more broadly of other appealing things, such as fine clothing. Comely can be traced back to Old English words variously meaning "glorious," "lively," or "fine." If you are looking to pretty up your prose or poetry with additional words meaning "beautiful," English is well-supplied with them. Aside from beautiful itself, we have lovely, handsome, pretty, fair, good-looking, gorgeous, ravishing, and even well-favored.

Choose the Right Synonym for comely

beautiful, lovely, handsome, pretty, comely, fair mean exciting sensuous or aesthetic pleasure.

beautiful applies to whatever excites the keenest of pleasure to the senses and stirs emotion through the senses.

beautiful mountain scenery

lovely is close to beautiful but applies to a narrower range of emotional excitation in suggesting the graceful, delicate, or exquisite.

a lovely melody

handsome suggests aesthetic pleasure due to proportion, symmetry, or elegance.

a handsome Georgian mansion

pretty often applies to superficial or insubstantial attractiveness.

a painter of conventionally pretty scenes

comely is like handsome in suggesting what is coolly approved rather than emotionally responded to.

the comely grace of a dancer

fair suggests beauty because of purity, flawlessness, or freshness.

fair of face

Examples of comely in a Sentence

a brood of comely children that any parent would be proud to claim

Recent Examples on the Web Instead, his big conversion comes later, after Rafael takes a fist to the face for dancing with a local tough guy’s comely fiancée. —

Peter Debruge, Variety, 23 Aug. 2023 Connecticut-raised Troy’s debut novel, Floating, imagines a dinky, dusty town in Arizona where its comely protagonist, Ruby, falls in love with her husband’s estranged, cowboy brother. —

Hazlitt, 4 May 2022 The comely stars, who are excellent at trolling each other online, are already parents to daughters James, 4, and Inez, 2. —

Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2019 Furthermore, the plant is topped by comely flowers, which in time proudly adorned the button-holes of no less than Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, in their day intentionally marketing the potato to a then-skeptical proletariat. —

Bill St. John, The Denver Post, 9 Oct. 2019 Drinks were served downstairs, dinner upstairs, and the comely belly dancers oscillated between the two. —

Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2019 With the help of Margaret Bonelli, Cirese planned to transform Sabella over the winter from a disheveled and foreign woman into a comely American mother. —

Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Woman's Day, 12 May 2017 This redesigned Traverse is a comely critter that’s lighter, easier on gas, peppier, and roomier than its predecessor. —

Al Haas, Philly.com, 7 June 2018 The contest regularly posted photos and brief bios of comely winners on trains from 1941 until 1976, and then sporadically. —

Don Oldenburg, USA TODAY, 30 Apr. 2018 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'comely.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.