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Cuteness

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.06 sec.
cute  (kyt)
adj. cut·er, cut·est
1. Delightfully pretty or dainty.
2. Obviously contrived to charm; precious: "[He] mugs so ferociously he kills the humorit's an insufferably cute performance" David Ansen.
3. Shrewd; clever.
[Short for acute.]
cutely adv.
cuteness n.
Word History: Cute is a good example of how a shortened form of a word can take on a life of its own, developing a sense that dissociates it from the longer word from which it was derived. Cute was originally a shortened form of acute in the sense "keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd." In this sense cute is first recorded in a dictionary published in 1731. Probably cute came to be used as a term of approbation for things demonstrating acuteness, and so it went on to develop its own sense of "pretty, fetching," first recorded with reference to "gals" in 1838.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.cuteness - the quality of being appealing in a delicate or graceful way (of a girl or young woman)
prettiness
beauty - the qualities that give pleasure to the senses
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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
And then ounly percave the cuteness of the swate angel, for no sooner did she obsarve that I was afther the squazing of her flipper, than she up wid it in a jiffy, and put it away behind her back, jist as much as to say, "Now thin, Sir Pathrick O'Grandison, there's a bitther chance for ye, mavourneen, for it's not altogether the gentaal thing to be afther the squazing of my flipper right full in the sight of that little furrenner Frinchman, Mounseer Maiter-di-dauns.
Poems by Poe, Edgar Allan View in context
I was obliged to admire my cuteness in foreseeing this very thing and swapping trees to beat it.
A Connecticut Yankee by Twain, Mark View in context
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