Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use pretty in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun

Pretty means pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children. Example: “We'll stop at the knife store and look at the sharp pretties.”

Examples of pretty by meaning

adjectivePleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.

  • Hal Smith, manager of the Ferry Field theatre, Detroit, one of the largest and prettiest outskirt houses in town, played Metro's "Revelation" for three days last week1917, Michigan Film Review, page 347
  • He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

adjectiveOf objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.

  • Mercer’s songs have never been sneakier, or prettier.2007 October 25, Kelefa Sanneh, “Songs With a Sneaky Streak”, in The New York Times

adjectiveModerately large; considerable.

  • "What did you do to your hair?" The answer could be worth a pretty penny for L'Oreal.2004 January 26, “Because They're Worth it”, in Time

adjectiveExcellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.).

  • ‘This new fashion of introducing the candidate's children into an election contest is a pretty one,’ said Mrs.1919, Saki, ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace
  • "Isn't it pretty to think so?"1926, Ernest Hemingway, The sun also rises, page 251

adjectiveAwkward, unpleasant, bad.

  • His sadistic self-torturings finally landed him in a pretty mess: still completely married, practically sure he was in love with Tillie, he made dishonorable proposals of marriage to two other women.1931 January 26, “Done to a Turn”, in Time

adverbSomewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.

  • Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
  • The Revolutionary decade was a pretty challenging time for business.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 539

nounA pretty person; a term of address to a pretty person.

  • I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!1939, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, The Wizard of Oz

nounSomething that is pretty.

  • We'll stop at the knife store and look at the sharp pretties.

More sentences with pretty

  • I glanced over at the pretty girl in the red dress.From the entry in
  • After that last screw-up of mine, my stock is pretty low around here.From the entry stock
  • Have you tried the new tacos from that restaurant? They're pretty bomb!From the entry bomb
  • He lucked out with that girl of his. Smart, sweet, sassy, and pretty too.From the entry girl
  • He was a pretty good student, but never amounted to much professionally.From the entry amount
  • I love watching her dance to a pretty drum beat with a bouncy rhythm!From the entry beat
  • With the mood broken, what we had been doing seemed pretty silly.From the entry break
  • You have to yank pretty hard on the handle to get this hood to pop.From the entry pop
  • I said it must be pretty late and I really must go.From the entry must
  • I mixed a bunch of random vegetables into a salad, and it actually turned out pretty good.From the entry random
  • My appointment book is pretty full, but I can just squeeze you in.From the entry squeeze in
  • This test is pretty tough, but I think I'm equal to it.From the entry equal
  • The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well.From the entry salient
  • Q: How's the weather there? A: The wind is pretty stiff, but it's seasonal, so no complaints.From the entry seasonal
  • Mother Nature interspersed the petunias with a few dandelions, but it was a pretty garden, anyway.From the entry intersperse
  • He's garbled the details, but the outline of the story is still pretty clear.From the entry garble
  • It is pretty unlikely that you'll win, but I will pray that at least you do well.From the entry unlikely
  • I'm not even bragging, but me and my friends are pretty much quiche.From the entry quiche
  • Pretty Polly! Pretty Polly! Squawk! 'Allo! Who's a pretty boy! Squawk! 'Allo! 'Allo!From the entry pretty Polly
  • Q: What's with John today? He seems off his game. A: He's pretty thirsty, I think.From the entry thirsty
  • He's pretty tragic these days, hanging out with people half his age.From the entry tragic
  • Having the flu all week left me pretty well out of it.From the entry out of it
  • The software is pretty good, except for a few cases where its behavior diverges from user expectations.From the entry diverge
  • I'm pretty sure that he's not coming, but I can double check the guest list.From the entry double check
  • His boyfriend is funny, and a pretty good cook to boot.From the entry to boot
  • After eating some hallucinogenic mushrooms, he said he saw a lot of pretty colors.From the entry hallucinogenic
  • I could tell by his bloodshot eyes that he was pretty blazed.From the entry blazed
  • He's pretty tolerant of different political views, but don't ask him about religion.From the entry tolerant
  • People are pretty stubborn about their political beliefs, so why bother arguing?From the entry stubborn

Meaning of pretty

  1. adjective Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
  2. adjective Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.
  3. adjective Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance; see petty.

Full definition of pretty

Questions about pretty in a sentence

How do you use pretty in a sentence?
Pretty is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “We'll stop at the knife store and look at the sharp pretties.”
What is a short sentence with pretty?
“"Isn't it pretty to think so?"”
What does pretty mean?
Pretty means pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pretty (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use pretty in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pretty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.