comely
pronunciation
How to pronounce comely in British English:
UK [ˈkʌmli]
How to pronounce comely in American English:
US [ˈkʌmli]
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- Adjective:
- according with custom or propriety
- very pleasing to the eye
Word Origin
- comely
- comely: [13] Old English had an adjective cymlic ‘beautiful’ (no relation at all to come), but this seems to have died out around the year 1000, and it is likely that comely, which first appears in the early 13th century, represents a reduced version of becomely, an adjective long since defunct of which there are a few records towards the end of the 12th century. This meant ‘suitable, becoming’ (it was formed, of course, from the verb become), an early meaning of comely; its other semantic strand, ‘beautiful’, is probably a memory of Old English cymlic.=> become
- comely (adj.)
- "beautiful, handsome," c. 1400, probably from Old English cymlic "lovely, splendid, finely made," from cyme "exquisite, glorious, delicate," from West Germanic *kumi- "delicate, feeble" (cognates: Old High German chumo "with difficulty," chumig "weak, delicate;" German kaum "hardly, scarcely"). Or perhaps the modern word is from Middle English bicumelic (c. 1200) "suitable, exquisite," literally "becomely" (compare becoming).
Synonym
Example
- 1. Here , a comely woman coach jogs alongside an inmate in the prison yard .
- 2. The girl has a good figure and comely appearance .
- 3. I have likened the daughter of zion to a comely and delicate woman .
- 4. The comely and delicate one , the daughter of zion , I will cut off .
- 5. Virtue is like a rich stone , best plain set : and surely virtue is best in a body , that is comely , thought not of delicate features ; and that hath ra .