Word of the Day Archive
Saturday June 5, 2004

comely \KUHM-lee\ , adjective:
1. Pleasing or agreeable to the sight; good-looking.
2. Suitable or becoming; proper; agreeable.

Why should it matter if an author is comely or plain?
-- Robb Forman Dew, "Silence of the Father", New York Times, January 19, 1992

Although aware that she was considered quite comely, she had never felt entirely confident of her charms, a hangover from her childhood.
-- Kate Lehrer, Out of Eden

His glossy nails made his hands look ornamental and special, caressive, comely and lovely with which to be touched.
-- Anne O'Brien Rice, The Vampire Armand

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Comely derives from Old English cymlic, from cyme, "pretty, beautiful, fine, delicate" + lic, adjectival suffix.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for comely

 

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