comely

Meaning

Adj

1. Of a person: attractive or pleasing to look at; beautiful, handsome; also, attractive but not particularly beautiful or handsome.
2. Of a person, an action, behaviour, etc.: meeting accepted moral or social norms; appropriate, becoming, proper.
3. Of a thing: beautiful, elegant, well-composed; also, delicate, fine.
4. (obsolete) Pleasing to the feelings or senses; agreeable, nice, pleasant.

Verb

To embellish or grace (something).

Adv

Synonym of comelily (“in a comely manner: in an attractive or pleasing manner; in a manner which meets accepted moral or social norms”)

Concepts

comely

beautiful

handsome

good-looking

pretty

attractive

fair

elegant

personable

shapely

graceful

lovely

becoming

goodly

bonny

decent

decorous

debonair

dishy

charming

gorgeous

cute

exquisite

dainty

fine

bonnie

sightly

comme il faut

seemly

trim

neat

nice

pleasant

pleasing

proportioned

symmetrical

well-favored

well-favoured

graseful

crummy

easy on the eye

easy to look at

good looking

winsome

bijou

chic

dapper

dressy

fancy

jaunty

natty

nifty

nobby

posh

prim

quaint

rakish

smart

spark plug

sparkish

spiffy

spruce

stylish

trig

well groomed

proper

tidy

palatable

racy

relishable

savorous

savory

savoury

toothsome

zest

darling

dinky

lightsome

fine-looking

ravishing

agreeable

comfortable

convenient

cosy

delightful

enjoyable

relaxing

genteel

resplendent

beauteous

bootiful

easy on the eyes

fayre

prettiful

pulchrous

splendiferous

Hyphenated as

come‧ly

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkʌmli/

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Middle English comly, comli, cumly, cumlich (“of a person: beautiful, handsome, etc.; of noble birth, bearing, or character; of behaviour: appropriate, becoming; of an event: convenient; favourable; of a thing: beautiful, wonderful; fitting, proper”), from Old English cymlīċ, cȳmlīċ (“beautiful, comely; splendid; convenient”), from cȳme (“beautiful, comely; splendid; exquisite, fine”) + -līċ (suffix meaning ‘like; relating to’ forming adjectives). Cȳme is derived from Proto-Germanic *kūmiz (“delicate; feeble”), from *kūmalīkaz (“dear; pitiful”), probably related to *kūmaz, *kūmijaz (“pitiful; frail, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (“to call, name; to call on, invoke; to cry, cry out”). The word was influenced by come (verb).
The verb is derived from the adjective.
cognates
* Middle Dutch komelick, komlick
* Middle High German gomelīh, komelīh