Meanings
comparative more pulchritudinous · superlative most pulchritudinous
- literaryHaving great physical beauty.
But Shedemei had long since grown out of her adolescent jealousy of pulchritudinous girls.
1994, Orson Scott Card, The Ships of Earth2 more examples
“The first example in each series,” Mike offered, “would be, on the basis of my associational analyses of such data, of such pulchritudinous value as to please any healthy, mature human male.”
1966, Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress“I had standing instructions to let any pulchritudinous females into Mr. Cooke’s dressing room,” Mike admitted. “Pulchritudinous? He really said that?” “No, I said that.”
1998, Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat in a Flamingo Fedora - obsoleterareThat endows pulchritude; beautifying.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveused of persons only; having great physical beauty
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpulchritūdō
- Latinpulchritūdin-
- Englishpulchritudinous
From Latin pulchritūdin- + -ous, from oblique stem of Latin pulchritūdō, from pulcher + -tūdō. By surface analysis, pulchritude + -ous.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek καλός
- καλός (kalós)having great physical beauty
Chinese Mandarin 美麗 /美丽
- 美麗 /美丽 (měilì)having great physical beauty
Danish fager
- fagerhaving great physical beauty
Finnish hyvännäköinen
- hyvännäköinenhaving great physical beauty
French somptueux
- somptueuxhaving great physical beauty
Hebrew יפה תואר
- יפה תוארhaving great physical beauty
Icelandic fagur, fallegur
- fagurhaving great physical beauty
- fallegurhaving great physical beauty
Japanese 美しい
- 美しいhaving great physical beauty
Latin pulcher
- pulcherhaving great physical beauty
Polish urodziwy
- urodziwyhaving great physical beauty
Cite this entry
pulchritudinous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pulchritudinous
“pulchritudinous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pulchritudinous. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pulchritudinous,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pulchritudinous.
Source: pulchritudinous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.