ATTRACTIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does attractive mean? 

• ATTRACTIVE (adjective)
  The adjective ATTRACTIVE has 3 senses:

1. pleasing to the eye or mind especially through beauty or charm

2. having power to arouse interest

3. having the properties of a magnet; the ability to draw or pull

  Familiarity information: ATTRACTIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ATTRACTIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pleasing to the eye or mind especially through beauty or charm

Context example:

a book with attractive illustrations

Similar:

bewitching; captivating; enchanting; enthralling; entrancing; fascinating (capturing interest as if by a spell)

winsome (charming in a childlike or naive way)

prepossessing (creating a favorable impression)

photogenic (looking attractive in photographs)

personable ((of persons) pleasant in appearance and personality)

irresistible (overpoweringly attractive)

hypnotic; mesmeric; mesmerizing; spellbinding (attracting and holding interest as if by a spell)

glossy; showy (superficially attractive and stylish; suggesting wealth or expense)

fetching; taking; winning (very attractive; capturing interest)

engaging; piquant (attracting or delighting)

dinky ((British informal) pretty and neat)

cunning; cute (attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness)

charismatic; magnetic (possessing an extraordinary ability to attract)

Also:

beautiful (delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration)

inviting (attractive and tempting)

pleasing (giving pleasure and satisfaction)

seductive (tending to entice into a desired action or state)

Attribute:

attractiveness (sexual allure)

Antonym:

unattractive (lacking beauty or charm)

Derivation:

attract (be attractive to)

attractiveness (sexual allure)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having power to arouse interest

Context example:

the job is attractive because of the pay

Similar:

appealing (able to attract interest or draw favorable attention)

Derivation:

attract (direct toward itself or oneself by means of some psychological power or physical attributes)

attractiveness (the quality of arousing interest; being attractive or something that attracts)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Having the properties of a magnet; the ability to draw or pull

Context example:

an attractive force

Attribute:

magnetic attraction; magnetic force; magnetism (attraction for iron; associated with electric currents as well as magnets; characterized by fields of force)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Antonym:

repulsive (possessing the ability to repel)

Derivation:

attract (exert a force on (a body) causing it to approach or prevent it from moving away)

 Context examples 

The art table was the most attractive in the room.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Such sites are also attractive to fishing and recreational boating, and collisions can injure sharks.

(New study of endangered whale shark youth shows vital habitat similarities, Wikinews)

You might start a personal project, such as to make your home more attractive and comfortable now that Venus is moving through your home sector.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Wild-type AA-2 retains the ability to preferentially integrate its DNA into a 4 kilobase region of human chromosome 19, designated AAVS1, making it an attractive gene therapy vehicle.

(Adeno-Associated Virus Type 2, NCI Thesaurus)

Not every species of fruiting tree is an attractive meal to all herbivores.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

Perovskites are cheap and easy to produce at low temperatures, which makes them attractive for next-generation solar cells and lighting.

(Potassium gives perovskite-based solar cells an efficiency boost, University of Cambridge)

Tissue regeneration would be an attractive alternative, because inert materials can fail with time and don’t provide the full function of the tissue.

(Laser Therapy Prompts Regeneration in Teeth, NIH)

Our correspondent naïvely says that even Ellen Terry could not be so winningly attractive as some of these grubby-faced little children pretend—and even imagine themselves—to be.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Upon my word, Watson, there is something very attractive about that livid face at the window, and I would not have missed the case for worlds.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A question about whether an individual feels or has felt less physically attractive as a result of their disease or treatment.

(Assessment of Physical Attractiveness of Self, NCI Thesaurus)