COMELY (comelier, comeliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: comelier    , comeliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does comely mean? 

• COMELY (adjective)
  The adjective COMELY has 2 senses:

1. according with custom or propriety

2. very pleasing to the eye

  Familiarity information: COMELY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMELY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

According with custom or propriety

Synonyms:

becoming; comely; comme il faut; decorous; seemly

Context example:

seemly behavior

Similar:

proper (marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Very pleasing to the eye

Synonyms:

bonnie; bonny; comely; fair; sightly

Context example:

young fair maidens

Similar:

beautiful (delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration)

Derivation:

comeliness (the quality of being good looking and attractive)

 Context examples 

Now the hand of Henry Jekyll (as you have often remarked) was professional in shape and size; it was large, firm, white and comely.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He was not less comely, for his training had left him the very model of what a man should be.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil—simple, straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes and broad, comely face.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There they found their child, now grown up to be comely and fair; and after all their troubles they lived happily together to the end of their days.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Homer was the taller and comelier person of the two, walked very erect for one of his age, and his eyes were the most quick and piercing I ever beheld.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He was a thin-faced, yellow-haired youth, rather above the middle size, comely and well shapen, with straight, lithe figure and eager, boyish features.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"That's like her. Well, you look it," and Jo's eye plainly betrayed that she found her boy comelier than ever.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He is not a very quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, sound at heart.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I saw George come bustling in, with a good-humoured smile upon his comely face.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He in the midst was young and comely, with boyish open face and bright gray eyes, which glanced from right to left as though he found the world around him both new and pleasing.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)