I. adjective (prettier; -est)
Etymology: Middle English praty, prety, from Old English prættig tricky, from prætt trick; akin to Old Norse prettr trick Date: before 12th century
1. artful , clever , pat , apt ,
2. pleasing by delicacy or grace, having conventionally accepted elements of beauty, appearing or sounding pleasant or nice but lacking strength, force, manliness, purpose, or intensity ,
3. miserable , terrible , stout , moderately large ; considerable , easy to enjoy ; pleasant , see: beautiful prettily adverb prettyish adjective
II. adverb
Date: 1565
1. in some degree ; moderately , quite , mainly , in a pretty manner ; prettily ,
Usage: Some handbooks complain that pretty is overworked and recommend the selection of a more specific word or restrict pretty to informal or colloquial contexts. Pretty is used to tone down a statement and is in wide use across the whole spectrum of English. It is common in informal speech and writing but is neither rare nor wrong in serious discourse
III. noun (plural pretties)
Date: 1736
dainty clothes, a pretty person or thing,
IV. transitive verb (prettied; prettying)
Date: 1909
to make pretty