HANDSOME • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Handsome

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/hˈænsəm/ Listen

adjective

Handsome adj. (compar. handsomer; superl. handsomest)

1.

Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; applied to things as persons. (Obs.) "That they (engines of war) be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about." "For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was first invented for him."

2.

Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; having a pleasing appearance or expression; attractive; having symmetry and dignity; comely; expressing more than pretty, and less than beautiful; as, a handsome man or woman; a handsome garment, house, tree, horse.

3.

Suitable or fit in action; marked with propriety and ease; graceful; becoming; appropriate; as, a handsome style, etc. "Easiness and handsome address in writing."

4.

Evincing a becoming generosity or nobleness of character; liberal; generous. "Handsome is as handsome does."

5.

Ample; moderately large. "He... accumulated a handsome sum of money."

To do the handsome thing, to act liberally. (Colloq.)

Synonyms: Handsome, Pretty. Pretty applies to things comparatively small, which please by their delicacy and grace; as, a pretty girl, a pretty flower, a pretty cottage. Handsome rises higher, and is applied to objects on a larger scale. We admire what is handsome, we are pleased with what is pretty. The word is connected with hand, and has thus acquired the idea of training, cultivation, symmetry, and proportion, which enters so largely into our conception of handsome. Thus Drayton makes mention of handsome players, meaning those who are well trained; and hence we speak of a man's having a handsome address, which is the result of culture; of a handsome horse or dog, which implies well proportioned limbs; of a handsome face, to which, among other qualities, the idea of proportion and a graceful contour are essential; of a handsome tree, and a handsome house or villa. So, from this idea of proportion or suitableness, we have, with a different application, the expressions, a handsome fortune, a handsome offer.

verb

Handsome v. t. To render handsome. (Obs.)

See images of 'Handsome'

Etymology of 'Handsome'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Handsome" Quotes from Famous Books

... differed most in offering to the National Government, not only a share of stock, but a "bonus," or gift, of a million and a half dollars for the privilege of the charter. Visions of internal improvements made possible by such a handsome gift immediately arose in the minds of some, although suspicion was the strongest feeling in the minds of others. The proposition was precisely along the Federalist idea of invested interests purchasing a monopoly from the Government, ...

— The United States of America Part I • Ediwn Erle Sparks

... the squire's family ever since she could remember, stepping around in another room. Old Margaret was almost the only servant, the only regular and permanent servant, in Pembroke, and she enjoyed a curious sort of menial distinction: she dressed well, wore a handsome cashmere shawl which had come from Scotland, and held her head high in the squire's pew. People saluted her with respect, and her isolation of inequality gave her ...

— Pembroke - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... she proved to be a handsome, full-rigged ship of about a thousand tons measurement, or thereabouts, and I thought that she had somewhat of the look of one of the new British clipper Indiamen that were just at this time beginning to supersede the old-fashioned, slow, lumbering tubs that had been considered the correct kind ...

— The Pirate Slaver - A Story of the West African Coast • Harry Collingwood

... the Karroo are few and far between. There are scarcely any flowers to attract butterflies, and I never saw more than four or five species of birds. There was one handsome bird, however, as big as a crow, with black and white plumage—probably the small bustard (Eupodotis afroides)—which occasionally rose from among the scrub and after a brief flight sank vertically to the ground in a curious fashion. Sometimes too, at nightfall, a large bird would fly with a strong ...

— With Methuen's Column on an Ambulance Train • Ernest N. Bennett

... possibly, make his appearance to answer a criminal charge in a court of law. I hear that Melton, whose credit has held up the bank lately, is off to see his friend in Paris. They say Farnaby's niece is a handsome girl, and Melton is sweet ...

— The Fallen Leaves • Wilkie Collins

Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com