ATTRACTIVENESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does attractiveness mean? 

• ATTRACTIVENESS (noun)
  The noun ATTRACTIVENESS has 2 senses:

1. the quality of arousing interest; being attractive or something that attracts

2. sexual allure

  Familiarity information: ATTRACTIVENESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ATTRACTIVENESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of arousing interest; being attractive or something that attracts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

attraction; attractiveness

Context example:

her personality held a strange attraction for him

Hypernyms ("attractiveness" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "attractiveness"):

affinity (a natural attraction or feeling of kinship)

allure; allurement; temptingness (the power to entice or attract through personal charm)

binding (the capacity to attract and hold something)

drawing power (the capacity for attracting people (customers or supporters))

fascination (the capacity to attract intense interest)

come-on; enticement; lure (qualities that attract by seeming to promise some kind of reward)

sexual attraction (attractiveness on the basis of sexual desire)

show-stopper; showstopper (something that is strikingly attractive or has great popular appeal)

Derivation:

attractive (having power to arouse interest)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sexual allure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("attractiveness" is a kind of...):

beauty (the qualities that give pleasure to the senses)

Attribute:

attractive (pleasing to the eye or mind especially through beauty or charm)

unattractive (lacking beauty or charm)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "attractiveness"):

adorability; adorableness (extreme attractiveness)

animal magnetism; beguilement; bewitchery (magnetic personal charm)

charisma; personal appeal; personal magnetism (a personal attractiveness or interestingness that enables you to influence others)

desirability; desirableness; oomph; sex appeal (attractiveness to the opposite sex)

appeal; appealingness; charm (attractiveness that interests or pleases or stimulates)

spiff (attractiveness in appearance or dress or manner)

Antonym:

unattractiveness (an ugliness of appearance that is not appealing to viewers)

Derivation:

attractive (pleasing to the eye or mind especially through beauty or charm)

 Context examples 

An article intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on or introduced into or otherwise applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering the appearance.

(Cosmetic, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

A substance that is intended to be applied to the body to promote attractiveness without affecting the body's structure or functions.

(Cosmetic, NCI Thesaurus)

I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much ease in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his own external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of other qualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of mere personal attractiveness, that, in looking at him, one inevitably shared the indifference, and, even in a blind, imperfect sense, put faith in the confidence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)