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a beautiful day
a perfect day
a gorgeous day
a nice day
a pretty day
beautiful music
elegant music
pleasant music
pretty music
lovely music
wonderful music
beautiful eyes
amazing eyes
pretty eyes
beautiful scenery
picturesque scenery
pristine scenery
spectacular scenery
breathtaking scenery
exquisite scenery
a beautiful baby
an adorable baby
a cute baby
a precious baby
a lovely baby
a gorgeous baby

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective beautiful differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of beautiful are comely, fair, handsome, lovely, and pretty. While all these words 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

How are the words comely and handsome related as synonyms of beautiful?

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

the comely grace of a dancer

When can fair be used instead of beautiful?

The words fair and beautiful are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, fair suggests beauty because of purity, flawlessness, or freshness.

fair of face

When could handsome be used to replace beautiful?

While in some cases nearly identical to beautiful, handsome suggests aesthetic pleasure due to proportion, symmetry, or elegance.

a handsome Georgian mansion

How do lovely and beautiful relate to one another?

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

a lovely melody

In what contexts can pretty take the place of beautiful?

The words pretty and beautiful can be used in similar contexts, but pretty often applies to superficial or insubstantial attractiveness.

a painter of conventionally pretty scenes

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of beautiful The job was to find a photographer or find a model, pack a trunk of clothes and flit off to St. Moritz for a week and take beautiful pictures and come back. A Martínez, NPR, 27 June 2025 The beautiful game has all too often been marred by unsavory incidents of bigotry. Hannah Ryan, CNN Money, 27 June 2025 When the competitions began in the 1990s, judges awarded points for things like beautiful architecture and keeping costs low. Ryan Kellman, NPR, 15 June 2025 This wine estate is located up a beautiful valley west of, and perpendicular to, the axis of the hills that form the Côte d’Or. Tom Mullen, Forbes.com, 15 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for beautiful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for beautiful
Adjective
  • With so many lovely fruits at our fingertips, there’s no reason to trifle with making a trifle this summer.
    Josh Miller, Southern Living, 28 June 2025
  • The post goes on to include a lovely list of recommendations for both kids and adults looking to scratch a fantastical itch.
    Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 June 2025
Adjective
  • Colleagues, mentors and friends are wonderful sources of feedback.
    Kim Salem-Jackson, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • These tender, buttery peas are wonderful in any number of dishes, but our new favorite just might be this black-eyed pea dip.
    Mary Claire Britton, Southern Living, 30 June 2025
Adjective
  • Their post features five gorgeous shots from Ocean Rain’s birth, both before and after her arrival.
    Clea Haran, Parents, 23 June 2025
  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is like a symphony — a gorgeous classical concerto where an electric guitar occasionally cuts in to shred an off-putting, yet surprisingly sick riff.
    Hayes Madsen, Rolling Stone, 23 June 2025
Adjective
  • This would not have been possible without tireless work from our excellent lawyers @TheJusticeDept and our Solicitor General John Sauer.
    Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 June 2025
  • Along the way, there have been some other expressions as well, including single barrel, barrel-proof whiskeys, a series of excellent cask-strength American single malts, and rye whiskeys made with different grain varietals.
    Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 29 June 2025
Adjective
  • Amazon is stocked with tons of cute coin purses that capture the kawaii aesthetic of Japanese street style.
    Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2025
  • Sourced from our favorite spots like J.Crew, Gap, Nordstrom Rack, and Amazon, these linen pieces are high quality and cute.
    Jeaneen Russell, People.com, 24 June 2025
Adjective
  • Your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history.
    CBS News, CBS News, 22 June 2025
  • The whole thing is sprawling, wild, fun, overwhelming, and awesome.
    Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 19 June 2025
Adjective
  • In 1923, the handsome thirty-one-year-old movie star Wallace Reid died from morphine and alcohol addiction.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 June 2025
  • All the Hamrick brothers are handsome, though in slightly different ways, like dogs born in different litters to the same purebred parents.
    David Sedaris, New Yorker, 23 June 2025
Adjective
  • This week on And Just Like That…, Carrie Bradshaw got some advice from a fabulous old friend.
    Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 27 June 2025
  • Other varieties provide additional design elements such as interesting bark, colorful fruits, and fabulous fall foliage to enhance the garden all year long.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 27 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Beautiful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/beautiful. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on beautiful

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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