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a handsome face
an attractive face
a pleasing face
a lovely face
a fine face
a pretty face
a handsome profit
a hefty profit
a lovely profit
a generous profit
a healthy profit
a tidy profit
a handsome book
an attractive book
a beautiful book
a gorgeous book
an elegant book
an exquisite book

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective handsome differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of handsome are beautiful, comely, fair, lovely, and pretty. While all these words mean "exciting sensuous or aesthetic pleasure," handsome suggests aesthetic pleasure due to proportion, symmetry, or elegance.

a handsome Georgian mansion

When is it sensible to use beautiful instead of handsome?

While the synonyms beautiful and handsome are close in meaning, beautiful applies to whatever excites the keenest of pleasure to the senses and stirs emotion through the senses.

beautiful mountain scenery

How are the words comely and handsome related?

Comely is like handsome in suggesting what is coolly approved rather than emotionally responded to.

the comely grace of a dancer

When could fair be used to replace handsome?

The synonyms fair and handsome are sometimes interchangeable, but fair suggests beauty because of purity, flawlessness, or freshness.

fair of face

How do lovely and beautiful relate to one another, in the sense of handsome?

Lovely is close to beautiful but applies to a narrower range of emotional excitation in suggesting the graceful, delicate, or exquisite.

a lovely melody

When would pretty be a good substitute for handsome?

The words pretty and handsome can be used in similar contexts, but pretty often applies to superficial or insubstantial attractiveness.

a painter of conventionally pretty scenes

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of handsome The trio of decision makers answered the former Seattle Seahawk’s trade request, and then Pittsburgh promptly extended the two-time Pro Bowler with a handsome new five-year, $150 million contract. Mike Defabo, The Athletic, 14 Mar. 2025 The result is a handsome, pulpy, brutal, palette-cleansing piece of genre filmmaking of the highest order. David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2025 The case coincides with suspicious activity occurring near the border where Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) — who used to work for the Navajo Tribal Police with Chee and Leaphorn and had a relationship with Chee — now gets drawn to cocky and handsome border agent Ivan Muños (Alex Meraz). Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2025 Casting is an expensive multistep process, though, and the same factories can furnish façades for new construction by the more straightforward technique of extrusion, yielding handsome but less ornate panels. Justin Davidson, Curbed, 5 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for handsome
Recent Examples of Synonyms for handsome
Adjective
  • For six seasons, viewers knew Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth Pearson, Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) intelligent, unflappable and graceful wife.
    Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2025
  • The result is a flattened film that, in the process of trying to capture the suppression and restraint of something graceful and unspoken, flattens it in the process too.
    Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Green Bay speedster Christian Watson suffered a torn right ACL in Week 18 last year and is expected to miss a large portion of the 2025 campaign.
    Rob Reischel, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
  • If the current uncertainty evolves into a large trade shock that’s sustained, RSM would revisit those projections, Brusuelas said.
    Alicia Wallace, CNN, 18 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Here are some of the most beautiful tulip festivals to catch across the globe as well as how tulips came to have cultural significance in each destination.
    Kaitlyn McInnis, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025
  • The melodies are all up there with the most beautiful melodies ever made.
    Nicholas Ducassi, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Endeavor has been steadily unloading assets in the wake of an April 2024 announcement that private equity giant Silver Lake—already a sizable Endeavor investor—would be taking the company private at $27.5 per share.
    Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 19 Mar. 2025
  • By the numbers: In San Antonio-area congressional districts, veterans make up a sizable share of civilian federal employment, per new data from the Economic Policy Institute.
    Emily Peck, Axios, 18 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Held in the heart of Orlando, this elegant event celebrates resilience and hope, with all proceeds directly supporting vital services for survivors of trauma, violence, and abuse.
    Joe Rassel, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 Mar. 2025
  • The Montecito Outdoor Pillow Cover, in particular, brings in a jolt of color and texture in one elegant design.
    Blake Bakkila, Architectural Digest, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • There are a few pretty substantial feature compromises/differences to take on board, though.
    John Archer, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Bigger pieces carry a more substantial visual weight—for example, a dangly pair of earrings and a thick necklace can sometimes be too overpowering together and might end up taking away from the rest of your look.
    Abby Morgan Lebet, Glamour, 27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Despite the attractive offer, not everyone is on board.
    Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Meanwhile, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, while sizable, have never had an NBA team and are likely less attractive options compared to San Diego.
    Giovanni Malloy, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • If the past is prologue, the future will feature considerable instability.
    Hersh Shefrin, Forbes, 22 Mar. 2025
  • Bliss's unexpected return at the Royal Rumble sparked considerable enthusiasm, backing up her popularity after a two-year hiatus despite earlier reports of contractual disputes with WWE.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 21 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Handsome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/handsome. Accessed 31 Mar. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on handsome

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