1
as in dude
a man extremely interested in his clothing and personal appearance
a downtown dance club with lots of pretty boys in attendance
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stud
a physically attractive man
as a musical performer, he has yet to prove that he's more than just another pretty boy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pretty boy
At Hartford Stage, Rafael Jordan plays Sterling as a smooth-talking pretty boy who seems unwilling to get his hands dirty.
—
Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 4 Feb. 2025
Scott’s Tom Ripley was a clean break from that of Matt Damon; instead of a petulant pretty boy seized by envy and lust, this Ripley was older (Scott is in his late forties) and scarier, a lonesome manipulator with a murderous gleam in his eye.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
How to adopt: Interested adopters can meet pretty boy Pepper at the Arizona Humane Society’s South Mountain location.
—The Republic, The Arizona Republic, 21 Jan. 2023
Austin Butler’s version of Elvis is a sulky pretty boy with smokey-eye makeup, loud silk shirts, and lips the color and texture of bubblegum.
—Katie Rife, Vulture, 24 June 2022
Brave, brilliant, ugly Cyrano yearns for Roxane (Evelyn Miller), who has fallen in love with pretty boy Christian (Eben Figueiredo), a soldier who has just enlisted in Cyrano’s tough-talking military regiment.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2022
John Boyega plays Dahomey’s young king, Ghezo, a benevolent if somewhat pretty boy leader who takes on soft diplomacy while deploying his Agojie to collect the heads of his enemies.
—Tribune News Service, cleveland, 16 Sep. 2022
This was the last time Leo would try to headline a big-budget movie still looking like the pretty boy of Titanic; after this, his next four films were for either Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 29 Dec. 2021
To compare his 1955 Newman, a pretty boy whose smile is a quick squiggle, with the Newman of 2002, his features still handsome but etched by the passage of a half-century, is an epitome in two drawings of Hirschfeld’s art.
—Terry Teachout, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2021
Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 4 Feb. 2025
Scott’s Tom Ripley was a clean break from that of Matt Damon; instead of a petulant pretty boy seized by envy and lust, this Ripley was older (Scott is in his late forties) and scarier, a lonesome manipulator with a murderous gleam in his eye.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
How to adopt: Interested adopters can meet pretty boy Pepper at the Arizona Humane Society’s South Mountain location.
—The Republic, The Arizona Republic, 21 Jan. 2023
Austin Butler’s version of Elvis is a sulky pretty boy with smokey-eye makeup, loud silk shirts, and lips the color and texture of bubblegum.
—Katie Rife, Vulture, 24 June 2022
Brave, brilliant, ugly Cyrano yearns for Roxane (Evelyn Miller), who has fallen in love with pretty boy Christian (Eben Figueiredo), a soldier who has just enlisted in Cyrano’s tough-talking military regiment.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2022
John Boyega plays Dahomey’s young king, Ghezo, a benevolent if somewhat pretty boy leader who takes on soft diplomacy while deploying his Agojie to collect the heads of his enemies.
—Tribune News Service, cleveland, 16 Sep. 2022
This was the last time Leo would try to headline a big-budget movie still looking like the pretty boy of Titanic; after this, his next four films were for either Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 29 Dec. 2021
To compare his 1955 Newman, a pretty boy whose smile is a quick squiggle, with the Newman of 2002, his features still handsome but etched by the passage of a half-century, is an epitome in two drawings of Hirschfeld’s art.
—Terry Teachout, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pretty boy
Noun
-
His size doesn’t exactly blow you out of the water — not exactly the biggest dude at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds — but the natural talent is special.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
14 Apr. 2025
-
That includes the dude competing with one arm and the other dude who when not falling repeatedly off a balance beam into the ocean was losing his grip 15 seconds into a challenge.—
Dalton Ross,
EW.com,
10 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Even when there are stud prospects expected to become first-round picks there’s no guarantee those players will even pan out, becoming quarterbacks who can carry a franchise for a couple of years.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
9 Apr. 2025
-
Bill Self appears to be doing for Peterson what Jon Scheyer did for Cooper Flagg, built a roster around his stud freshman.—
CJ Moore,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Jealous of Kate’s new beau, Bill (Glenn Ford), Pat steals him away, marrying him.—
Barry Levitt,
Vulture,
18 Apr. 2025
-
Sherman, as the only nonpolitical character in the sketch, was paired with Jon Hamm playing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but dressed like Walton Goggins' Rick, the beau of Wood's Chelsea on season 3 of the drama series.—
Jillian Sederholm,
EW.com,
13 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The Incroyables in France and Beau Brummell dandies were satirized by cartoonists for their corseting and groin-centric trouser display.—
Sarah Mower,
Vogue,
19 Mar. 2022
-
Buy the Book From Beau Brummell to Emily Adams Bode, The Men’s Fashion Book documents over 200 years of fashion history by spotlighting the people and brands that have shaped the world of menswear.—
WSJ,
WSJ,
1 Oct. 2021
Noun
-
The island is home to over 260 bird species, as well as other animals like alligators and foxes.—
Kaitlyn Yarborough,
Southern Living,
17 Apr. 2025
-
The foxes, however, eat the hares and thus limit their population.—
Manon Bischoff,
Scientific American,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
But she's got her choice of handsome high school hunks, including Reid (Andrew Liner), Davis' son and the school's quarterback, and Lucas (Garrett Wareing), the poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
18 Apr. 2025
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Their weirdly cozy 750-square-foot studio layout, a tiny dot in a 3.5 million-square-foot hunk of capitalism, was to these bohemian commandos a rebuke to the city’s destruction of their old neighborhood close to the mall.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The filmmakers ensure that viewers similar in age to the kids on screen get an eyeful of what those robotics gatherings are like for their contestants, who arrive from all over the globe.—
Lisa Kennedy,
Variety,
7 Mar. 2025
-
Overall, Printemps New York is a multifaceted, visual eyeful, where the architecture and decor might overwhelm the merchandise for some.—
David Moin,
WWD,
3 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pretty boy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretty%20boy. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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