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
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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
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Recent Examples of pretty boy
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretty boy
Noun
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Work on getting rugs and maybe take your shoes off once in a while, but don’t let this dude bully you!—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
27 June 2025
-
Steven is a remarkably busy dude, though – not to say that these folks aren’t.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
26 June 2025
Noun
-
Vinicius stopped the ball with his studs; Guti did a proper backheel, which is much, much harder.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
26 June 2025
-
There’s this one really cute crochet set with studs.—
Lisa Lockwood,
Footwear News,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
The song includes a dig at ex-husband Offset and name-drops her new beau New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs.—
Amaris Encinas,
USA Today,
23 June 2025
-
And on Sunday, Garner got some love from longtime beau Miller, who planted a kiss on the 13 Going on 30 actress following her final mile.—
Brenton Blanchet,
People.com,
23 June 2025
Noun
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Fashion and dandyism enthusiasts will immediately recall writings about historical fashion figure and dandy Beau Brummell, an arbiter of men’s style in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.—
Tonya Blazio-Licorish,
Footwear News,
3 Sep. 2019
-
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
Noun
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Many purported sightings of mountain lions in Oklahoma turn out to be other animals, including bobcats, house cats, dogs, coyotes, foxes, deer and rabbits.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
12 June 2025
-
People and domestic animals should always avoid physical contact with wild animals such as raccoons, bats, foxes, skunks, otters, bobcats, coyotes, which carry a higher risk of human exposure and a need for rabies post-exposure treatment.—
Orlando Sentinel Staff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
12 June 2025
Noun
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That means, as Hercules, buoyant Brady is asked to present little beyond a sweet-natured, naive hunk celebrated for his gym membership and gleaming dentistry.—
David Benedict,
Variety,
24 June 2025
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Come here for breakfast, and tear off a hunk of a just-out-of-the-oven baguette, slather it with salted premium French butter, sip great coffee, and kick off your day.—
Shivani Vora,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2025
Noun
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Alternatively, get an eyeful of the Leake Street Arches—aka the London Graffiti tunnel—beneath Waterloo Station, and pop out on Lower Marsh, with its centuries-old street market and proper Lambeth vibe.—
Emma John,
AFAR Media,
24 June 2025
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Locals get an eyeful of contemporary art inside at the Seattle Art Museum as well as in the open air at the Olympic Sculpture Park.—
Amelia Mularz,
Architectural Digest,
28 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pretty boy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretty%20boy. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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