handsome

Syllables: hand·some/ˈhæn.səm/

handsome adjective: having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly.

Adjective

handsome (comparative more handsome or handsomer, superlative most handsome or handsomest)

Having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly
- That is one handsome tree you've got there.
- I saw, I confess, some good dancing and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure.1661–1669 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “(please specify the entry date)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume...
Of a man or boy: attractively manly, having a pleasing face and overall effect.
- I was struck dumb. Here was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life coming out of the surf.
- Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face between handsome and pretty. He had very fair wavy hair, a high forehead, excited and friendly eyes and a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty. His chin was well built and he had good ears and...1964, Ernest Hemingway, “Scott Fitzgerald”, in A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 149
Of a woman: statuesque, beautiful in a masculine or otherwise imposing way.
- She was either handsome or her uniform created a flattering effect but—being very nearsighted—he couldn't tell from this distance.
Good, appealing, appropriate.
- City have lapped up the plaudits this season for a series of handsome wins but manager Roberto Mancini has demanded that his side also learn to grind out results when they do not play well. He now has an example to point to.2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, in BBC Sport
1. (figuratively) Of weather, fine, clear and bright.
  - Sunday, the sixth, we heaved up our sheet-anchor again, the day beginning with little wind, and continued handsome weather till eight at night, when the wind came to S. S. W. and it fell a snowing.1808, John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, page 513
  - The story goes that James Whitcomb Riley, the poet, on a beautiful spring day, in making his way from his home to his office, was accosted by numerous friends on the way who were exclaiming most extravagantly on the beauty of the day. It was "Good morning, Mr. Riley, a fine day;" "Good morning, Mr....1911, Farm Chemicals, page 60
2. Suitable or fit in action; marked with propriety and ease; appropriate.
  - a handsome style
  - Easiness and handsome address in writing.1713, Henry Felton, A Dissertation on Reading the Classics and Forming a Just Style
Generous or noble in character.
- I'm a plain man, Mr. Feverel. Above board with me, and you'll find me handsome.1859, George Meredith, chapter XI, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC
Ample; moderately large.
- a handsome salary
- He […] accumulated a handsome sum of money.1779, Vicesimus Knox, Essays Moral and Literary
Synonyms:

hefty, substantial
(obsolete) Of people and things: dexterous; skillful.
- That they [engines of war] be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about.1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the...
- Laſtly, for a theife it is ſo handſome, as it may ſeem it was firſt invented for him1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...

Verb

handsome (third-person singular simple present handsomes, present participle handsoming, simple past and past participle handsomed)

(obsolete, transitive) To render handsome.

handsome meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

handsome in Hindi

of man: attractive: ख़ूबसूरत xūbsūrat

handsome in Marathi

handsome, beautiful, pleasant; beauty with dignity: भव्य bhavya

handsome in Urdu

of man: attractive: خوبصورت xūbsūrat

More languagesFewer languages

handsome in Bengali: সুন্দর śundor, খুবসুরত khubśurot, হাসিন haśin, সুন্দরী śundori
handsome in Telugu: అంతము antamu, సుందరము sundaramu, సౌమ్యము saumyamu
handsome in Malayalam: സുന്ദരന് sundaraṉ
handsome in Kannada: ಸೊಗಸಾದ, ಅಂದವಾದ, ಚೆಲುವಿನ, ಚನ್ನಾದ
handsome in Punjabi: ਸੋਹਣਾ sohṇā, ਸਾਂਵਲਾ sā̃vlā
handsome in Sanskrit: शृङ्गार śṛṅgāra, वल्गु valgú, सुरूप surūpá, चङ्ग caṅga
handsome in Pashto: ټوسپارۍ tuspārëy
handsome in Tagalog: guwapo, makisig
handsome in Arabic: جَمِيل jamīl, وَسِيم wasīm
handsome in Malay: kacak
handsome in Indonesian: ganteng, tampan
handsome in Persian: خوشتیپ xoš-tip
handsome in Thai: หล่อ lɔ̀ɔ
handsome in Vietnamese: đẹp trai
handsome in Myanmar: ချော hkyau:

Examples of handsome in a sentence

On the opposite side of the street, on the corner, is the city hall, a very handsome building of brick and stone.1916, On H.R. 4683, site for post-office building at Chicago, Ill, page 117:
The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had been handsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting.1917, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Darling and Other Stories, Project Gutenberg, →ISBN, page 71:
In recent times the Samoyed, one of the handsomest breeds, has become popular as a show dog in England and the U.S.1993, Funk & Wagnalls Corporation, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, volume 23, page 106:
Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face between handsome and pretty.1964, Ernest Hemingway, “Scott Fitzgerald”, in A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 149:

All 40 example sentences with handsome

Synonyms of handsome

Forms of handsome

Adjective
comparative	more handsome
comparative	handsomer
superlative	most handsome
superlative	handsomest
Verb
third-person singular present	handsomes
present participle	handsoming
past participle	handsomed
past	handsomed

Origin of handsome

From Middle English handsum, hondsom, equivalent to hand + -some. Compare Dutch handzaam, German Low German handsaam. The original sense was “easy to handle or use”, hence “suitable” and “apt, clever” (mid-16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).

Words formed from handsome

Phrases with handsome

Words that rhyme with handsome

Questions about handsome

What does handsome mean?: Handsome means having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly.
What is handsome in Hindi?: Handsome in Hindi is ख़ूबसूरत (xūbsūrat). See Handsome meaning in Hindi.
How do you use handsome in a sentence?: On the opposite side of the street, on the corner, is the city hall, a very handsome building of brick and stone.
What part of speech is handsome?: Handsome can be an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce handsome?: Handsome is pronounced /ˈhæn.səm/.

Words near handsome in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-handsome.ogg, en-us-handsome.ogg.

Cite this entry: “handsome.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handsome. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.