pretty boy
noun
informal + usually disparaging
: a man who is notably good-looking
also
: dandy sense 1
Synonyms
Examples of pretty boy in a Sentence
Movie critics seem to finally agree that this pretty boy can act.
a downtown dance club with lots of pretty boys in attendance
Recent Examples on the Web
How to adopt: Interested adopters can meet pretty boy Pepper at the Arizona Humane Society’s South Mountain location.
—
The Republic, The Arizona Republic, 21 Jan. 2023
Austin Butler’s version of Elvis is a sulky pretty boy with smokey-eye makeup, loud silk shirts, and lips the color and texture of bubblegum.
—Katie Rife, Vulture, 24 June 2022
Brave, brilliant, ugly Cyrano yearns for Roxane (Evelyn Miller), who has fallen in love with pretty boy Christian (Eben Figueiredo), a soldier who has just enlisted in Cyrano’s tough-talking military regiment.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2022
John Boyega plays Dahomey’s young king, Ghezo, a benevolent if somewhat pretty boy leader who takes on soft diplomacy while deploying his Agojie to collect the heads of his enemies.
—Tribune News Service, cleveland, 16 Sep. 2022
This was the last time Leo would try to headline a big-budget movie still looking like the pretty boy of Titanic; after this, his next four films were for either Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 29 Dec. 2021
To compare his 1955 Newman, a pretty boy whose smile is a quick squiggle, with the Newman of 2002, his features still handsome but etched by the passage of a half-century, is an epitome in two drawings of Hirschfeld’s art.
—Terry Teachout, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2021
Nicole Kidman plays war correspondent Martha Gellhorn opposite yet another pretty boy cast as Hemingway, Clive Owen.
—Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune, 2 Apr. 2021
This Ben is a Machiavellian tactician, wrapped up in a pretty boy body with a rumbling inner-squid.
—Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, 11 Jan. 2021
See More
The Republic, The Arizona Republic, 21 Jan. 2023
Austin Butler’s version of Elvis is a sulky pretty boy with smokey-eye makeup, loud silk shirts, and lips the color and texture of bubblegum.
—Katie Rife, Vulture, 24 June 2022
Brave, brilliant, ugly Cyrano yearns for Roxane (Evelyn Miller), who has fallen in love with pretty boy Christian (Eben Figueiredo), a soldier who has just enlisted in Cyrano’s tough-talking military regiment.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2022
John Boyega plays Dahomey’s young king, Ghezo, a benevolent if somewhat pretty boy leader who takes on soft diplomacy while deploying his Agojie to collect the heads of his enemies.
—Tribune News Service, cleveland, 16 Sep. 2022
This was the last time Leo would try to headline a big-budget movie still looking like the pretty boy of Titanic; after this, his next four films were for either Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 29 Dec. 2021
To compare his 1955 Newman, a pretty boy whose smile is a quick squiggle, with the Newman of 2002, his features still handsome but etched by the passage of a half-century, is an epitome in two drawings of Hirschfeld’s art.
—Terry Teachout, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2021
Nicole Kidman plays war correspondent Martha Gellhorn opposite yet another pretty boy cast as Hemingway, Clive Owen.
—Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune, 2 Apr. 2021
This Ben is a Machiavellian tactician, wrapped up in a pretty boy body with a rumbling inner-squid.
—Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, 11 Jan. 2021
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pretty boy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1835, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to pretty boy
Dictionary Entries Near pretty boy
Cite this Entry
“Pretty boy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pretty%20boy. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.
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