prettify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make pretty, especially in a small, petty way.
to prettify a natural beauty.
-
to minimize or gloss over (something unpleasant).
to prettify his rude behavior.
verb
Other Word Forms
- prettification noun
- prettifier noun
- unprettified adjective
Etymology
Origin of prettify
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.
Instead, they take an approach that is at once more generous and more unsparing, refusing to either condemn their characters or prettify them.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 9, 2019
Sometimes in a Gothic novel authors lose courage and prettify the end.
From New York Times • Oct. 26, 2018
It is exquisitely photographed, not in a way to prettify things but to recognize their beauty.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2014
His job was not to prettify, but to warp and curdle.
From The Guardian • Aug. 5, 2014
But I knowed I had to prettify the story even more.
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
