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attractive

UK/əˈtɹæktɪv/US/əˈtɹæktɪv/
adjectiveA2+2 meaningsVery common — you will meet it every day · #1,290 of 15,258neutral

Attractive means pleasant to look at. An attractive face, an attractive offer, find him attractive.

It applies to offers and ideas as readily as to people — an attractive proposal is one worth taking. Of people it is measured and slightly cool, which is why it appears in descriptions rather than in compliments. Note attract; and that the Latin means to draw towards, from trahere, the same root as tractor.

Definitions of attractive

  1. 1adjectiveattractivePleasant to look at.A2+

    “They live in an attractive old house with roses around the door.”

  2. 2adjectiveworthWorth taking or considering.B2

    “The company made him an attractive offer, with a higher salary and a car.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

attractive is a quality of appeal.

Where it comes from

Latin attractivus comes from attrahere, to draw towards — ad plus trahere, to draw. Tractor, contract and treat come from the same drawing.

  1. Latin

    attractīvus

  2. Middle French

    attractif

  3. English, today

    attractive

From Middle French attractif, from Latin attractīvus, equivalent to attract + -ive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

attractive in the wild

  • A trophy wife is typically relatively young and attractive, and may be a second, third or later wife of an older, wealthier man.

    Trophy wife

  • For example, a gay or lesbian person would typically find a person of the same sex to be more attractive than one of the other sex.

    Sexual attraction

  • In the episode, an attractive female employee named Mindy is hired at the nuclear power plant.

    The Last Temptation of Homer

  • C, a third party, offers to buy A's shares at an attractive price, and A accepts.

    Tag-along right

  • The CLRA claim is attractive to potential plaintiffs because Cal.

    California Consumers Legal Remedies Act

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the attractif family

attractive

attractive — used about once every 136 pages · #1,290 · point at the bar for the others

  • attract
  • attraction