attractive
Americanadjective
-
providing pleasure or delight, especially in appearance or manner; pleasing; charming; alluring.
an attractive personality.
-
arousing interest or engaging one's thought, consideration, etc.: an attractive price.
an attractive idea;
an attractive price.
-
having the quality of attracting.
adjective
-
appealing to the senses or mind through beauty, form, character, etc
-
arousing interest
an attractive opportunity
-
possessing the ability to draw or pull
an attractive force
Other Word Forms
- attractively adverb
- attractiveness noun
- superattractive adjective
- unattractive adjective
- unattractively adverb
- unattractiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of attractive
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English attractif, attractive, (from Middle French at(t)ractif ), from Late Latin attractīvus “(of a medicine) having drawing power, absorptive,” derivative of attractus , “drawn, contracted,” attract, -ive
Explanation
Anybody or anything that's attractive is visually pleasing or draws you in. Being attractive has to do with attracting others, one way or another. If you're talking about a magnet, that's a literal, physical kind of attraction. For people, being attractive usually means you're beautiful or handsome enough to pull in the attention of others. But having a great personality or a good job are attractive traits, too. If someone offered to give you something valuable for a good price, you could also say, "That's an attractive offer" — meaning it's tempting.
Vocabulary lists containing attractive
Structure and Properties of Matter - Middle School
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Structure and Properties of Matter - Introductory
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Structure and Properties of Matter - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But when these two lines diverge in a meaningful way, it could signal an attractive opportunity to buy, Dorsey said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 16, 2026
“We see an attractive entry point for an AI beneficiary,” Sherman wrote of Datadog.
From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026
But that doesn’t make the broader index any more attractive, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026
To call West a fierce competitor is like calling Margot Robbie vaguely attractive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
One evening we went to move an attractive young woman who found it charming to spell the name Kim with an h, a y, and two ms.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
