prepossessing
prepossessing adjective: tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive. Also the present participle and gerund of prepossess.
Adjective
prepossessing (comparative more prepossessing, superlative most prepossessing)
- Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive
- "I am a great advocate for timidity—and I am sure one does not often meet with it.—But in those who are at all inferior, it is extremely prepossessing."1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 15
- Our curate is a young gentleman of such prepossessing appearance, and fascinating manners, that within one month after his first appearance in the parish, half the young-lady inhabitants were melancholy with religion, and the other half, desponding with love.1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The curate. The old lady. The half-pay captain”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify...
- Synonyms:
- pleasing
- Causing prejudice.
Also used as
prepossessing is also the present participle and gerund of prepossess.
Examples of prepossessing in a sentence
- These natural graces in the quadroon are often united with beauty of the most dazzling kind, and in almost every case with a personal appearance prepossessing and agreeable.1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “chapter 2”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify...
- In repose the faces of the men were intelligent and dignified, those of the women ofttimes prepossessing.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 126:
- He was a frank, prepossessing fellow, but I saw that he could add nothing to his original account.1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 3, in The Whisperer in Darkness:
- The stations are generally very poor, even for a branch line; some are mere wooden shacks, and Moniaive itself is one of the least prepossessing terminal stations I have ever seen.1944 January and February, E. R. McCarter, “The Cairn Valley Light Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 48:
Synonyms of prepossessing
Forms of prepossessing
| comparative | more prepossessing |
|---|---|
| superlative | most prepossessing |
Origin of prepossessing
From prepossess + -ing. Attested in 1610s with the meaning of "getting possession of (ground or land) beforehand". The meaning "to possess (a person) beforehand with a feeling, notion, etc." developed in 1630s, acquiring by the 40s of the same century the meaning of "to cause (someone) to have a favorable opinion of something, preoccupy the mind or heart of".
Words formed from prepossessing
Questions about prepossessing
- What does prepossessing mean?
- Prepossessing means tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive.
- How do you use prepossessing in a sentence?
- These natural graces in the quadroon are often united with beauty of the most dazzling kind, and in almost every case with a personal appearance prepossessing and agreeable.
- What part of speech is prepossessing?
- Prepossessing is an adjective.
Words near prepossessing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prepossessing (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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