Word family noun love lover loveliness. lovey adjective lovable ≠ unlovable loveless lovely loving unloved verb love adverb lovingly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlovelylove‧ly /ˈlʌvli/ ●●● S1 W3 adjective (comparative lovelier, superlative loveliest) 1 especially British EnglishBEAUTIFUL/GOOD-LOOKING beautiful or attractive She had a lovely face. What a lovely house! You look lovely in that dress. He was a lovely little boy. What a lovely day!► see thesaurus at beautiful2 spoken especially British EnglishGOOD/EXCELLENT very pleasant, enjoyable, or good Thank you for a lovely evening. That was a lovely cup of tea.► see thesaurus at nice3 informal especially British EnglishNICE friendly and pleasant Richard’s a lovely person.4 British English spokenBAD used to say that something is not at all enjoyable or good ‘The cat threw up all over the carpet!’ ‘Lovely!’ You’ve made a lovely mess in here.5 → lovely and warm/fresh/clean etc6 British English spokenGOOD/EXCELLENT used to show that you are pleased with something Push it right across. That’s it, lovely. —loveliness noun [uncountable]GRAMMAR: Order of adjectivesIf there is more than one adjective, the adjectives are usually used in a fixed order.You say: We had lovely warm weather. ✗Don’t say: We had warm lovely weather.You say: That’s a lovely red dress. ✗Don’t say: That’s a red lovely dress.Examples from the Corpus
lovely• Anna's perfume smells lovely.• The garden was looking lovely.• Don't the Schultz sisters look lovely?• He told his wife that evening that she had never looked lovelier.• Billie the person was lovely and unscathed.• The hills will be lovely at this time of year.• Rosie's a lovely baby.• What a lovely baby!• They've got a lovely big house in the country.• It was a lovely big house with a big garden out the back.• Thank you for the lovely birthday present.• Claire was young and lovely, but rather shy.• The dress was such a lovely colour, a deep blue that really suited her.• You are so lucky to live here with all this lovely countryside around you.• They've got three lovely kids.• Old Dr Macintosh was a lovely man.• From Thaxted we went to a lovely old thatched pub called the Ashtree at Burton End.• There was a lovely picture of him on telly last night peering woefully over the fence dressed in snazzy suit.• Her hair's a lovely shade of red.• The staff at the hotel were lovely - so helpful and polite.• From Leipzig to Dresden, with the gentle Elbe flowing between, this is a lovely state to get into.• We had a lovely time at the beach.• It would be lovely to see you again.• Now my lovely tomatoes are beginning to disappear.• There are lovely views of the Inland Ionian islands through the beautifully kept garden.• Rita's a lovely young girl.look lovely• There we are - it looks lovely.• To one man there, however, she looked lovelier and more desirable than any maiden he had ever seen.• All it took was for one saleslady to tell her she looked lovely and Mrs McMahon was persuaded.• Most of the time she did look lovely, despite her apparel.• Its special formula will help your lipstick stay in place and keep your lips looking lovelier for much, much longer!• You look lovely in blue.• They looked lovely on the mantelpiece in the flat but a new bouquet would not go astray at this stage.• It looks lovely right up until it ricochets off the backboard.• What could look lovelier than any or all of these complemented by orange poppies? 