Common uses of ’pretty’

Pretty as an adjective means ’attractive, especially when talking about girls or women’. Margo always tells her daughter that she’s pretty. Jacob’s mum is really pretty. Pretty is also used to talk about things that are ’pleasant to look at in a delicate or charming way’. While this is often connected to females, it can also be used to describe something like ’a view’. There’s a very pretty view at the top of that hill. My friend moved out of the city and bought a pretty cottage in the countryside. As an adverb, pretty can be an informal way of saying ’quite’ or ’rather’. The house was built recently, it’s pretty new. I enjoyed that film, it was pretty good. We can also use pretty to give emphasis. We went to bed at 2am, so we were pretty tired. I’m pretty angry right now, so don’t talk to me. We can use pretty with the words ’much’ or ’well’. In this case, it means ’almost’. I think we’ve mentioned pretty well everything. I guess we’re pretty much finished.