Word Meanings - HANDSOME - Book Publishers vocabulary database

-some. It at first meant, dexterous; cf. D. handzaam dexterous, 1. Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied to things as persons. That they be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about. Robynson . For

Additional info about word: HANDSOME

-some. It at first meant, dexterous; cf. D. handzaam dexterous, 1. Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied to things as persons. That they be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about. Robynson . For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was first invented for him. Spenser. 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. Felton. 4. Evincing a becoming generosity or nobleness of character; liberal; generous. Handsome is as handsome does. Old Proverb. 5. Ample; moderately large. He . . . accumulated a handsome sum of money. V. Knox. To do the handsome thing, to act liberally. Syn. -- 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.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of HANDSOME)

• Chivalrous
• Courageous
• generous
• knightly
• gallant
• heroic
• adventurous
• valiant
• spirited
• handsome
• high-minded
• Comely
• Seemly
• graceful
• elegant
• shapely
• suitable
• fitting
• decent
• becoming
• Elegant
• Graceful
• lovely
• well formed
• well made
• symmetrical
• accomplished
• polished
• refined
• Liberal
• Free
• gentle
• bountiful
• catholic
• enlarged
• copious
• ample
• profuse
• large
• munificent
• abundant
• noble-minded
• bounteous
• tolerant
• plentiful

Related words: (words related to HANDSOME)

• FORMALITY
  The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal. The doctors attending her in their formalities as far as Shotover. Fuller. 6. That which is formal; the formal part. It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while
• CATHOLICON
  A remedy for all diseases; a panacea.
• SPIRITUOUS
  1. Having the quality of spirit; tenuous in substance, and having active powers or properties; ethereal; immaterial; spiritual; pure. 2. Containing, or of the nature of, alcoholic spirit; consisting of refined spirit; alcoholic; ardent;
• PLENTIFUL
  1. Containing plenty; copious; abundant; ample; as, a plentiful harvest; a plentiful supply of water. 2. Yielding abundance; prolific; fruitful. If it be a long winter, it is commonly a more plentiful year. Bacon. 3. Lavish; profuse; prodigal.
• CATHOLIC
  1. Universal or general; as, the catholic faith. Men of other countries to bear their part in so great and catholic a war. Southey. Note: This epithet, which is applicable to the whole Christian church, or its faith, is claimed by Roman Catholics
• HIGH-MINDEDNESS
  The quality of being highminded; nobleness; magnanimity.
• COMELY
  comeliche, AS. cymlic; cyme suitable + 1. Pleasing or agreeable to the sight; well-proportioned; good- looking; handsome. He that is comely when old and decrepit, surely was very beautiful when he was young. South. Not once perceive their foul
• FORMICARY
  The nest or dwelling of a swarm of ants; an ant-hill.
• FORMULIZE
  To reduce to a formula; to formulate. Emerson.
• GALLANTLY
  In a polite or courtly manner; like a gallant or wooer.
• LIBERALIZE
  To make liberal; to free from narrow views or prejudices. To open and to liberalize the mind. Burke.
• SPIRITUALIZE
  To extract spirit from; also, to convert into, or impregnate with, spirit. (more info) 1. To refine intellectiually or morally; to purify from the corrupting influence of the world; to give a spiritual character or tendency to; as, to spiritualize
• ENLARGEMENT
  1. The act of increasing in size or bulk, real or apparent; the state of being increased; augmentation; further extension; expansion. 2. Expansion or extension, as of the powers of the mind; ennoblement, as of the feelings and character; as, an
• BOUNTIFUL
  1. Free in giving; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors. God, the bountiful Author of our being. Locke. 2. Plentiful; abundant; as, a bountiful supply of food. Syn. -- Liberal; munificent; generous; bounteous. -- Boun"ti*ful*ly, adv.
• FORMERLY
  In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
• CATHOLICIZE
  To make or to become catholic or Roman Catholic.
• POLISHMENT
  The act of polishing, or the state of being polished.
• CATHOLICITY
  1. The state or quality of being catholic; universality. 2. Liberality of sentiments; catholicism. 3. Adherence or conformity to the system of doctrine held by all parts of the orthodox Christian church; the doctrine so held; orthodoxy.
• ACCOMPLISHED
  1. Completed; effected; established; as, an accomplished fact. 2. Complete in acquirements as the result usually of training; -- commonly in a good sense; as, an accomplished scholar, an accomplished villain. They . . . show themselves accomplished
• GRACEFUL
  Displaying grace or beauty in form or action; elegant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech. High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode. Dryden. -- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.
• FALCIFORM
  Having the shape of a scithe or sickle; resembling a reaping hook; as, the falciform ligatment of the liver.
• INFORMITY
  Want of regular form; shapelessness.
• OMNIFORMITY
  The condition or quality of having every form. Dr. H. More.
• PUBLIC-SPIRITED
  1. Having, or exercising, a disposition to advance the interest of the community or public; as, public-spirited men. 2. Dictated by a regard to public good; as, a public-spirited project or measure. Addison. -- Pub"lic-spir`it*ed*ly,
• DEFORMER
  One who deforms.
• DIVERSIFORM
  Of a different form; of varied forms.
• PREFORM
  To form beforehand, or for special ends. "Their natures and preformed faculties. " Shak.
• VARIFORM
  Having different shapes or forms.
• UNBECOMING
  Not becoming; unsuitable; unfit; indecorous; improper. My grief lets unbecoming speeches fall. Dryden. -- Un`be*com"ing*ly, adv. -- Un`be*com"ing*ness, n.
• RESINIFORM
  Having the form of resin.
• UNEXAMPLED
  Having no example or similar case; being without precedent; unprecedented; unparalleled. "A revolution . . . unexampled for grandeur of results." De Quincey.
• BIFORM
  Having two forms, bodies, or shapes. Croxall.
• VILLIFORM
  Having the form or appearance of villi; like close-set fibers, either hard or soft; as, the teeth of perch are villiform.
• REFORMALIZE
  To affect reformation; to pretend to correctness.
• FULL-FORMED
  Full in form or shape; rounded out with flesh. The full-formed maids of Afric. Thomson.
• SCORIFORM
  In the form of scoria.
• REFORMATIVE
  Forming again; having the quality of renewing form; reformatory. Good.