lovelier; loveliest
1
: delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace : attractive
She looks lovely in that dress.
3
: eliciting love by moral or ideal worth
A lovely woman who loves him for himself, not for his money.
4
obsolete
: lovable
Synonyms
Adjective
- A-OK
- A1
- awesome
- bang-up
- banner
- beautiful
- blue-chip
- blue-ribbon
- boffo
- bonny [chiefly British]
- bonnie
- boss [slang]
- brag
- brave
- bully
- bumper
- capital
- choice
- classic
- cool [slang]
- corking
- crackerjack
- cracking
- dandy
- divine
- dope [slang]
- down [slang]
- dynamite
- excellent
- fab
- fabulous
- famous
- fantabulous [slang]
- fantastic
- fine
- first-class
- first-rate
- first-string
- five-star
- four-star
- frontline
- gangbusters
- gangbuster
- gilt-edged
- gilt-edge
- gone [slang]
- grand
- great
- groovy
- heavenly
- high-class
- hot
- hype [slang]
- immense
- jim-dandy
- keen
- marvelous
- marvellous
- mean
- neat
- nifty
- noble
- number one
- No. 1
- numero uno
- out-of-sight [slang]
- par excellence
- peachy
- peachy keen
- phat [slang]
- prime
- primo [slang]
- prize
- prizewinning
- quality
- radical [slang]
- righteous [slang]
- sensational
- slick
- splendid
- stellar
- sterling
- superb
- superior
- superlative
- supernal
- swell
- terrific
- tip-top
- top
- top-notch
- top-of-the-line
- top-shelf
- topflight
- topping [chiefly British]
- unsurpassed
- wizard [chiefly British]
- wonderful
Examples of lovely in a Sentence
Adjective
She was wearing a lovely dress.
a lovely bouquet of flowers
The song has a lovely melody.
The hotel has a lovely view.
We enjoyed a lovely dinner.
a singer with a lovely voice
Their children have lovely manners.
How lovely of you to come!
It was lovely to have you here!
Noun
A chorus line of young lovelies danced on the stage.
Recent Examples on the Web
Jesse Green, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
There’s nothing so lovely as a prolonged vanishing.
—Rae Armantrout, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
And just off to the north and to the east, beneath this layer of dark, dark sky, there is a lovely pink and orange horizon; an orange and gold color.
—David Montesino, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Apr. 2024
The Aperol and the St. Germain play off each other in a really lovely way on the finish, and the bold lingering complexity of Champagne distracts a bit from that show, too many voices at once.
—Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 6 Apr. 2024
But the shores of Long Beach Island are particularly lovely.
—Lindsay Cohn, Travel + Leisure, 6 Apr. 2024
Let’s credit debuting feature director Arkasha Stevenson (a former photographer for this paper) with the stylishness to pull off a potent sense of atmosphere and the kind of lovely period detail that deep studio pockets can fund but rarely have cause to summon.
—Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024
The hybrid eclipse will be lovely; the one coming this month will be nothing short of stunning.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Tom Carruth, curator of the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanic Gardens’ extensive rose garden, posted a sweet video on Instagram in late March, explaining that the roses are only now leafing out, in a lovely variety of leaf colors and styles.
—Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2024
Matt Thompson, Spin, 10 Sep. 2023
Serve these layered lovelies in old-fashioned glasses to make the treat extra special.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 July 2023
The first flowering of the reblooming variety of these perennial lovelies is in June.
—Erynn Hassinger, Country Living, 22 Apr. 2023
No, Colin Frissell hooking up with the three lovelies in Wisconsin.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 10 Dec. 2019
The vegetables: Along with the summer lovelies mentioned above, some people get all crazy and put mushrooms in their ratatouille.
—James P. Dewan, chicagotribune.com, 13 Aug. 2019
Here are some of the lovelies that were arrested recently -- the Berkeley deal.
—Fox News, 29 Aug. 2018
Scott Rubin was asked to write jokes for National Lampoon’s Strip Poker, a witless pay-per-view series featuring Kaelin and a group of lovelies (including Olivia Munn, then known as Lisa) at the Hedonism II nudist resort in Jamaica.
—Benjamin Wallace, HWD, 1 May 2017
The Observer resolved then and there to award these two lovelies his first Mellow MoonPie award, for grit and glimmer in the face of death.
—The Masked Observer, AL.com, 31 Jan. 2018
Adjective
The songs are squeezed too — a shame because many are lovely.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
There’s nothing so lovely as a prolonged vanishing.
—Rae Armantrout, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
And just off to the north and to the east, beneath this layer of dark, dark sky, there is a lovely pink and orange horizon; an orange and gold color.
—David Montesino, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Apr. 2024
The Aperol and the St. Germain play off each other in a really lovely way on the finish, and the bold lingering complexity of Champagne distracts a bit from that show, too many voices at once.
—Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 6 Apr. 2024
But the shores of Long Beach Island are particularly lovely.
—Lindsay Cohn, Travel + Leisure, 6 Apr. 2024
Let’s credit debuting feature director Arkasha Stevenson (a former photographer for this paper) with the stylishness to pull off a potent sense of atmosphere and the kind of lovely period detail that deep studio pockets can fund but rarely have cause to summon.
—Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024
The hybrid eclipse will be lovely; the one coming this month will be nothing short of stunning.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Tom Carruth, curator of the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanic Gardens’ extensive rose garden, posted a sweet video on Instagram in late March, explaining that the roses are only now leafing out, in a lovely variety of leaf colors and styles.
—Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2024
Noun
But don’t despair, my scarred and scarring lovelies.
—Matt Thompson, Spin, 10 Sep. 2023
Serve these layered lovelies in old-fashioned glasses to make the treat extra special.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 July 2023
The first flowering of the reblooming variety of these perennial lovelies is in June.
—Erynn Hassinger, Country Living, 22 Apr. 2023
No, Colin Frissell hooking up with the three lovelies in Wisconsin.
—Kyle Smith, National Review, 10 Dec. 2019
The vegetables: Along with the summer lovelies mentioned above, some people get all crazy and put mushrooms in their ratatouille.
—James P. Dewan, chicagotribune.com, 13 Aug. 2019
Here are some of the lovelies that were arrested recently -- the Berkeley deal.
—Fox News, 29 Aug. 2018
Scott Rubin was asked to write jokes for National Lampoon’s Strip Poker, a witless pay-per-view series featuring Kaelin and a group of lovelies (including Olivia Munn, then known as Lisa) at the Hedonism II nudist resort in Jamaica.
—Benjamin Wallace, HWD, 1 May 2017
The Observer resolved then and there to award these two lovelies his first Mellow MoonPie award, for grit and glimmer in the face of death.
—The Masked Observer, AL.com, 31 Jan. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lovely.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near lovely
Cite this Entry
“Lovely.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lovely. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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