What's the difference between pleasing and pretty?

Pleasing


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Please
  • (a.) Giving pleasure or satisfaction; causing agreeable emotion; agreeable; delightful; as, a pleasing prospect; pleasing manners.
  • (n.) An object of pleasure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I can see you use humour as a defence mechanism, so in return I could just tell you that if he's massively rich or famous and you've decided you'll put up with it to please him, you'll eventually discover it's not worth it.
  • (2) We are pleased to see the process moving forward and look forward to its resolution,” a Target spokeswoman, Molly Snyder, said in an emailed statement.
  • (3) The prerequisite for all champions is the refusal to cave in, so City's equaliser with only three minutes remaining was pleasing.
  • (4) When Vladimir Putin kicks back on New Year's Eve with a glass of Russian-made champagne, and reflects on the year behind him, he is likely to feel rather pleased with himself at the way his foreign policy initiatives have gone in 2013.
  • (5) Chikavu Nyirenda, a leading political analyst, said: "She neglected to look at the local scene but spent a lot of time to please the west and promote herself."
  • (6) 3.14pm BST 14 mins: It's quite a pleasing thing that, some 22 years after the passback rule was put in place, fans still applaud a player heading the ball back to the keeper.
  • (7) I am pleased with that but disappointed with the result.
  • (8) Speaking about the player, who scored crucial goals for England during qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Hodgson said: “Andros was unlucky to lose his place in the squad when he wasn’t getting a regular game and he’s gone to Newcastle, got a regular game, and done very well there.” Expressing his delight in being selected, Townsend tweeted: “Huge honour to be named in provisional England squad for the euros ... Will give my all over next few weeks to try to make final squad!” Hodgson also declared himself pleased to include Jordan Henderson, who returned to action for Liverpool in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion having been out since early April with damaged knee ligaments.
  • (9) This is a very nice drug and I’m sure Merck are feeling very pleased with themselves.” Matt Kennedy, who led the trial at Merck, said: “Today there are very limited therapeutic options available for people with Alzheimer’s disease, and those that exist provide only short-term improvement to the cognitive and functional symptoms.
  • (10) And he pleased the audience with an acknowledgement that social work is a tough job and social workers only human.
  • (11) [The prime minister] is very pleased we’ve been able to secure this arrangement.
  • (12) In the email King sets out ways jobcentre staff can catch out claimants, saying: "You should consider every doubt – if you are unsure then please conference with me."
  • (13) Angela Merkel says she's very pleased to accept the invitation to Davos, at a time when global economic growth is modest.
  • (14) Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Charles Antaki, he's here all week, try the Imodium.
  • (15) "This has been a challenging time for the BMJ but I am very pleased the panel has taken the view that we acted appropriately," said BMJ editor in chief, Dr Fiona Godlee.
  • (16) Two British throwers up there, it's unheard of, I'm pleased with where the sport's going."
  • (17) • If you have experiences relating to this story that you would like to share, please email us in confidence at inequality.project@theguardian.com
  • (18) As the embattled NHS chief executive was grilled in the televised hearing, committee member Valerie Vaz told him: "Please don't feel that this is a trial."
  • (19) Please, forgive me,” Choi Soon-sil, a cult leader’s daughter with a decades-long connection to Park, said through tears inside the Seoul prosecutor’s building, according to Yonhap news agency.
  • (20) "Really, really pleased," said the world silver medallist.

Pretty


Definition:

  • (superl.) Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem.
  • (superl.) Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune.
  • (superl.) Affectedly nice; foppish; -- used in an ill sense.
  • (superl.) Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.
  • (superl.) Stout; strong and brave; intrepid; valiant.
  • (adv.) In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; -- less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As a Native American I am pretty sensitive to charges of racism and white supremacy,” the Oklahoma congressman added.
  • (2) Not making a sound for 24 hours pretty nearly killed me.
  • (3) The conclusion is to warn the orthopaedic surgeons to look carefully what model is behind the pretty coloured results.
  • (4) It may unsettle Exxon Mobil a little but they are pretty experienced now and I don’t think they would derail anything,” she said.
  • (5) United and West Ham are on similar runs and can feel pretty happy about themselves but are not as confident away from home as they are at home and that will have to change if they are to make ground on the top teams.
  • (6) When you hear the name Jesus, is the first image that comes to mind a dewy-eyed pretty boy with flowing locks?
  • (7) We’ve got a lot of work to do but I’m feeling pretty confident.
  • (8) Some offer a range, depending on whether you think you're a bit of a buff, and know a pinot meunier from a pinot noir and what prestige cuvée actually means or you just want to see a bit of the process and have a nice glass of bubbly at the end of it, before moving on to the next place – touring a pretty corner of France getting slowly, and delightfully, fizzled.
  • (9) No one condones what happened in the 70s, but I think this is pretty appalling."
  • (10) Which is good news for anyone who likes this kind of thing (which is, let's face it, pretty much everyone.
  • (11) Woodall added: “Pretty much everything [is a potential source for what we found].
  • (12) There's no doubt Twitter is, for those who are into that kind of thing, a first-class social networking medium (the proof: pretty much every other social networking site, including Facebook, has tried to buy it and, having failed, adopted a whole raft of blatantly Twitter-like features of their own).
  • (13) Pretty much every major toy brand, as well as apps like Angry Birds and Talking Friends, are spawning “webisodes” on YouTube as well as traditional ads, which often sit side-by-side within the same channel.
  • (14) She said the UK law on assisted suicide infringed Pretty's human rights, under article two of the European convention – the right to life.
  • (15) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Terms and Conditions May Apply – trailer It’s pretty simple, really.
  • (16) Parties are a tedious chore, while sponsorships are pretty tiresome too: can you remember the key messaging about that motor oil you agreed to plug to the nearest reporter?
  • (17) Chelsea might recover under similar circumstances, but I reckon they need a pretty big overhaul.
  • (18) I’ve seen Ukip both at home and abroad, and I’m sorry to say they’re pretty amateur.
  • (19) "I have always been of the view that it is a false dichotomy, and one that is pretty much built-in by our education system unfortunately," he said this weekend.
  • (20) Facebook Twitter Pinterest A bus belching smoke in Bogotá Pretty dirty.