Word of the Day Archive
Friday May 11, 2001
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
Comely derives from Old English cymlic, from cyme, "pretty, beautiful, fine, delicate" + lic, adjectival suffix.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for comely
