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
-
Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, Chapman, Ray, the dude who almost killed Reagan to make Jodie Foster fall in love with him (didn't work).—
Carlo Versano,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 July 2025
-
Several dudes have been faster than a speeding bullet and leaped tall buildings with a single bound.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
11 July 2025
Noun
-
Vinicius stopped the ball with his studs; Guti did a proper backheel, which is much, much harder.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
26 June 2025
-
There’s this one really cute crochet set with studs.—
Lisa Lockwood,
Footwear News,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
The songstress and entertainer shared her special news with her fans on Instagram by posting a beautiful photo of her and her beau, NBA star of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell.—
Dominique Fluker,
Essence,
11 July 2025
-
In the closing minutes of the second episode, Jess (Megan Stalter), the brash American protagonist of Netflix’s Too Much, lies down with the mix CD her new British beau, Felix (Will Sharpe), has made for her.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
10 July 2025
Noun
-
Fashion and dandyism enthusiasts will immediately recall writings about historical fashion figure and dandy Beau Brummell, an arbiter of men’s style in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.—
Tonya Blazio-Licorish,
Footwear News,
3 Sep. 2019
-
The original dandy—most famously embodied by figures like Beau Brummell in 18th-century Britain—was a man whose primary purpose was to stand out by being impeccably groomed and dressed.—
Ty Gaskins,
Vogue,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The animals included 12 bats, nine racoons, eight skunks, two groundhogs, a bobcat, three cats and a fox, data shows.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
14 July 2025
-
The video has since charmed viewers online, racking up over 122,000 views and sparking plenty of affection for the toy-thieving fox cub and its mischievous crew.—
Melissa Fleur Afshar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 July 2025
Noun
-
Nathan Fillion straddles the line between everyman and hunk — and he’s built a career out of it.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 July 2025
-
In our culture there’s little more demonstrative action of a parent’s lack of control than having their child drive away in a 4,000-pound hunk of metal on their own.—
Caleb Harris,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Noun
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Alternatively, get an eyeful of the Leake Street Arches—aka the London Graffiti tunnel—beneath Waterloo Station, and pop out on Lower Marsh, with its centuries-old street market and proper Lambeth vibe.—
Emma John,
AFAR Media,
24 June 2025
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Locals get an eyeful of contemporary art inside at the Seattle Art Museum as well as in the open air at the Olympic Sculpture Park.—
Amelia Mularz,
Architectural Digest,
28 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pretty boy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pretty%20boy. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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