lovely
Syllables: love·ly/ˈlʌv.li/
lovely adjective: delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace.
Adjective (1)
lovely (comparative lovelier, superlative loveliest)
- Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace.
- It's a lovely day and the sun is shining.
- The music box plays a lovely melody.
- Nice; wonderful.
- It would be lovely to have a little more money to spend.
- It is a lovely night, and why should we not prolong our ride a little?"1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 135
- Inspiring love or friendship; amiable.
- a most lovely gentlemanlike manc. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...
- Loving, filled with love.
- seal the title with a lovely kissc. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Noun
lovely (plural lovelies)
- An attractive, lovely person, especially a (professional) beauty.
- a calendar depicting young lovelies in bikinis
- "I'd sooner be on the stage than anywhere else." "You mean you like being cocked up in front of an audience with nothing much on and getting a thrill out of being what those idiotic newspapers call a Lovely or a Glamour Girl. With all the damned glamour on the stage and none off it."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 6
- Term of fond address.
- Goodbye, my lovely.
- But where do you go to my lovely / When you're alone in your bed?1969, Peter Sarstedt, “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?”
- A lovely object.
- In Montréal, the summer months bring in a huge variety of fruits and vegetables and this is the time to preserve them. Preserving can also refer to the storage of these fiber and vitamin rich lovelies.2011, Theodora Floros, What'S for Lunch?: A Cooking Guide for Parents, →ISBN, page 13
- May Bell ironed the last ruffle and then hung the dress in the wardrobe next to her other lovelies.2015, Marlys Millhiser, The Mirror, →ISBN
Adverb
lovely (comparative more lovely, superlative most lovely)
- In a lovely fashion or manner; beautifully.
- She's not everyone's cup of tea, what with the way she speaks her mind and doesn't always do her hair in the morning, but she scrubs up lovely.2014, Neil Bartlett, chapter 18, in The Disappearance Boy, A&C Black
Adjective (2)
lovely (comparative lovelier or more lovely, superlative loveliest or most lovely)
- Worthy of praise.
- And so he is in the eyes of all who live to his praise. To them every attribute of God is lovely. The holiness and purity of his nature is most lovely to them.1773, Thomas Boston (the Elder.), Alexander Colden, The Whole Works of the late reverend and learned Mr. Thomas Boston, Minister of the Gospel at Etterick
- He is altogether lovely. O, all our praises of him are poor and low things!1807, Erasmus Middleton, Evangelical biography
Proper noun capitalized: Lovely
Lovely
lovely meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
lovely in Hindi
- beautiful; charming; very pleasing in form, looks, tone, or manner
- मनोहर manohar, सुंदर sundar, मनोरम manoram
- very nice, wonderful
- मनोरम manoram
lovely in Tamil
- அழகான, மகிழ்ச்சியூட்டுகின்ற, வனப்பான
lovely in Urdu
- lovely, pleasing, agreeable, charming
- پیارا pyārā
lovely in Bengali
- lovely, pleasing, agreeable, charming
- পেয়ারা peẏara
More languagesFewer languages
- lovely in Telugu
- పద్మిని padmini, ముగ్ధ mugdha, దృశ్యము dr̥śyamu
- lovely in Malayalam
- ഓമൽ ōmal
- lovely in Kannada
- ಮನೋಹರವಾದ, ಸುಂದರವಾದ, ರಮ್ಯವಾದ, ಚೆಲುವಾದ
- lovely in Sanskrit
- गूर्त gūrta, मञ्जु mañju
- lovely in Assamese
- মৰমলগা moromloga
- lovely in Pashto
- ښایسته xāysta
- lovely in Vietnamese
- dễ thương
Examples of lovely in a sentence
- The castle garden enchants visitors with its lovely blooms.
- Tarzan wondered in a lazy sort of way whom she might be, and what relations one so lovely could have with the surly, bearded Russian.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Forging Bonds of Hate and ——?”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt...
- Then I look at you / And the world's alright with me / Just one look at you / And I know it's gonna be / A lovely day1977, Skip Scarborough, Bill Withers, “Lovely Day”, performed by Bill Withers:
- О praise the Lord, for the Lord is gracious : О sing praises unto his Name, for it is lovely.1823, Church of England, Llyfr gweddi gyffredin:
- My precious Saviour's matchless name ; He's wise and holy, just and true, And altogether lovely too.1876, John Vaughan, Trinity hymns for the worship of the three-one Jehovah in faith & love:
Synonyms of lovely
Forms of lovely
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | lovelier |
| superlative | loveliest |
| comparative | more lovely |
| superlative | most lovely |
| Noun | |
| plural | lovelies |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more lovely |
| superlative | most lovely |
Origin of lovely
From Middle English lovely, luvelich, lufli, from Old English luflīċ, luflīc (“amiable, loving, lovable”), equivalent to love + -ly.
From Middle English lovely, luveliche, from Old English luflīċe (“lovingly, amiably, kindly, dearly, with good will or love, willingly”), equivalent to love + -ly.
From Middle English lofly, lovely (“praiseworthy; laudatory”), equivalent to lofe + -ly. Cognate with Dutch loffelijk (“laudable, praiseworthy”), German löblich (“commendable, laudable, praiseworthy”), Swedish lovlig (“permissible”). More at lofe, love.
Words formed from lovely
Phrases with lovely
Questions about lovely
- What does lovely mean?
- Lovely means delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace.
- What is lovely in Hindi?
- Lovely in Hindi is मनोहर (manohar), सुंदर (sundar), मनोरम (manoram). See Lovely meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use lovely in a sentence?
- The castle garden enchants visitors with its lovely blooms.
- What part of speech is lovely?
- Lovely can be an adjective, a noun, an adverb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce lovely?
- Lovely is pronounced /ˈlʌv.li/.
Words near lovely in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lovely (page history and authors); Lovely (page history and authors); lovely (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); پیارا (Urdu) (page history and authors); পেয়ারা (Bengali) (page history and authors); దృశ్యము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഓമൽ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); lovely (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); মৰমলগা (Assamese) (page history and authors); ښایسته (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lovely.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lovely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lovely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.