comely

1. 1.

   according with custom or propriety

   “her becoming modesty”

   “comely behavior”

   “it is not comme il faut for a gentleman to be constantly asking for money”

   “seemly behavior”

   Synonymsbecomingcomme il fautdecorousseemly

   Similarproper
2. 2.

   very pleasing to the eye

   “my bonny lass”

   “there's a bonny bay beyond”

   “a comely face”

   “young fair maidens”

   Synonymsbonnybonniefairsightly

   Similarbeautiful

Other forms of comely

comparative or superlative

comelier

comparative or superlative

comeliest

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about comely

What does comely mean?

comely means "according with custom or propriety". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in comely?

comely has 2 syllables: comel-y. The stress falls on "comel". In IPA it is /ˈkʌmli/.

What is another word for comely?

Close synonyms include becoming, comme il faut, decorous, seemly, bonny. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is comely a common word?

comely is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.