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Synonyms

cute

American  
[kyoot] / kyut /

adjective

cuter, cutest

  1. attractive, especially in a dainty way; pleasingly pretty.

    a cute child; a cute little apartment.

  2. appealing and delightful; charming.

    What a cute toy!

  3. affectedly or mincingly pretty or clever; precious.

    The child has acquired some intolerably cute mannerisms.

  4. mentally keen; clever; shrewd.

noun

  1. Informal. the cutes, self-consciously cute mannerisms or appeal; affected coyness.

    The young actress has a bad case of the cutes.

idioms

  1. meet cute,

    1. (of a romantic couple) to meet for the first time in a charming or amusing way.

      In this type of movie the boy and girl always meet cute.

    2. Also meet-cute a situation or occasion when potential romantic partners meet for the first time in a charming or amusing way.

      a classic Hollywood meet cute; his meet-cute with Jane in the bookstore.
cute British  
/ kjuːt /

adjective

  1. appealing or attractive, esp in a pretty way

  2. informal sexually attractive

  3. informal affecting cleverness or prettiness

  4. clever; shrewd

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • cutely adverb
  • cuteness noun

Etymology

Origin of cute

First recorded in 1615–25; aphetic variant of acute

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.