prettify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make pretty, especially in a small, petty way.
to prettify a natural beauty.
-
to minimize or gloss over (something unpleasant).
to prettify his rude behavior.
verb
-
(tr) to make pretty, esp in a trivial fashion; embellish
Other Word Forms
- prettification noun
- prettifier noun
- unprettified adjective
Etymology
Origin of prettify
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Leight doesn’t prettify the ugly side of our history.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2023
Instead, they take an approach that is at once more generous and more unsparing, refusing to either condemn their characters or prettify them.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 9, 2019
It is partly an aesthetic thing – they are trained to prettify the plate – and partly a crisis of faith in their own ability.
From The Guardian • Apr. 25, 2016
Mark Romanek, director of the transcendent “Hurt” video, made late in Cash’s life, said he didn’t want “to prettify the whole thing.”
From Seattle Times • Dec. 11, 2013
But I knowed I had to prettify the story even more.
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.