pretty boy

1
as in dude
a man extremely interested in his clothing and personal appearance a downtown dance club with lots of pretty boys in attendance

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in stud
a physically attractive man as a musical performer, he has yet to prove that he's more than just another pretty boy

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 pretty boy 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, 26 Sep. 2025 Also, why is arthouse pretty boy Louis Garrel, who portrays the leader of a resistance group known as Breakwalls (That’s seriously their name. Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025 At Hartford Stage, Rafael Jordan plays Sterling as a smooth-talking pretty boy who seems unwilling to get his hands dirty. Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 4 Feb. 2025 Scott’s Tom Ripley was a clean break from that of Matt Damon; instead of a petulant pretty boy seized by envy and lust, this Ripley was older (Scott is in his late forties) and scarier, a lonesome manipulator with a murderous gleam in his eye. Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024 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 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 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretty boy
Noun
  • Anyhoodle, the three dudes went to a clearing and saw hanging net buckets and a stack of coconuts.
    Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
  • The Rams have only allowed 46 total receiving yards to running backs this season, but the modern-day Matt Forte is just a different dude.
    Brad Evans, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • That has become a strength in quick order with Broberg’s breakout as a stud, two-way, top-four defenseman with size, range and plus skating ability, and the home-run acquisition of Fowler.
    Harman Dayal, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
  • The main stud for his owner, food vendor and farmer Thawatchai Daeng-Ngam, Tod was one of the competitors Monday at the annual water buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, a city about an hour drive from Bangkok.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which recounted Swift’s breakups with rocker beau Matty Healy and actor/co-writer Joe Alwyn, bristled at expectations and disappeared into fantasy.
    Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Her beau and companion was asleep on his board in the middle of the lagoon.
    NEAL RUBIN, Freep.com, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • At the time of her birth, her father, Albert, an itinerant merchant and womanizer, was absent and her parents unmarried.
    Leslie Camhi, Travel + Leisure, 15 Sep. 2025
  • The author was a womanizer-in-training who was rolling with this MTV star named Mystery.
    Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The original dandy—most famously embodied by figures like Beau Brummell in 18th-century Britain—was a man whose primary purpose was to stand out by being impeccably groomed and dressed.
    Ty Gaskins, Vogue, 29 Apr. 2025
  • Buy the Book From Beau Brummell to Emily Adams Bode, The Men’s Fashion Book documents over 200 years of fashion history by spotlighting the people and brands that have shaped the world of menswear.
    WSJ, WSJ, 1 Oct. 2021
Noun
  • The train includes views of wildflowers, geologic formations, deer, antelope, elk, fox, eagles, and sometimes even bears.
    Opheli Garcia Lawler, Travel + Leisure, 6 Oct. 2025
  • Eventually, Jerry — a civil engineer — joined in too, saving his leftovers for the fox.
    Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 26 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Let’s Bring Back Fondue Night When fondue pots were at the height of their popularity in the 1970s, everyone would gather around the table in their house clogs and bell bottoms with skewers ready to dip into melty cheese, smooth chocolate, and even piping-hot oil (for cooking small hunks of meat).
    Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 2 Oct. 2025
  • At an open call, scores of would-be hunks lined up for the gig — and all of them looked like Timothée Chalamet.
    Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Fans at home got an eyeful as muscleman Mike Munz, vocal duo Crash Adams, acrobatic pair The TT Boys, dance act The Funkateers Dancers, singing ensemble The Birmingham Youth Fellowship Choir, and others got down to business.
    Lars Brandle, Billboard, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Get an eyeful of Davidson on The Tonight Show in the interview above.
    Shania Russell, EW.com, 23 July 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pretty boy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretty%20boy. Accessed 10 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!