Friday, 11 October 2013

Vocabulary - Ways to Say Beautiful


We all know that the word “beautiful” describes a person who possesses qualities that make it a pleasure to see, hear or think about them. Beautiful can also refer to an inanimate object, something that brings great pleasure in some way, such as a painting or sculpture. Alternatively, we may use it to describe something that has achieved excellence such as “that was a beautiful meal” or “well done, that was a beautiful serve”. So I just was wondering how many other words we can think of that may be used instead of beautiful. Let’s give “beautiful” a rest and look at some interesting alternatives.


Beautiful is a beautiful word, BUT it is overused! How much better to be described as alluring, charming, dazzling, delightful, gorgeous, marvelous, magnificent, stunning, superb or wonderful! To me that just feels as though someone has put more thought into the compliment, it is coming from the heart and sincere. Beautiful also conjures up the idea of physical attraction, although this is not always the case. To repeat one of my grandmother’s favorite sayings, “beauty is what beauty does”, in other words it is what a person does that makes them beautiful, not how they look!

Here's another good compliment for you to try - “bewitching”- meaning to be captivating, enchanting and fascinating. Just imagine how much more exciting it would be to be described in this way. If you are looking for something a bit more sexy, how about “alluring” which suggests attractive, very tempting and seductive. Go on, describe your partner in this way and make their weekend! It is not only people who can be described in this way, you may choose one option over another because it is more alluring, you may find the smell of fresh coffee alluring, or the spray from the sea – the list goes on and on.


Alternatively, if you are describing someone or something that you feel is without beauty you may use the adjective unalluring. You may feel that this is a way of describing a certain action carried out by an individual. You know the sort of thing, like clipping their nose hair in front of you or drinking too much beer so that they can't stand up! These sorts of behaviour may certainly be unalluring. If you are looking for other ways to describe someone or something that is without beauty you could use ugly (but that is a bit obvious). How about trying something different like offensive, disgusting, repulsive or hideous!

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