The contraction cute first appears in the early 18th century, but only a century later does it begin to take on its distinctive modern meaning; even after 1900 children were still being called cute …

CUTE definition: 1. (especially of something or someone small or young) pleasant and attractive: 2. trying to be…. Learn more.

Cute definition: attractive, especially in a dainty way; pleasingly pretty.. See examples of CUTE used in a sentence.

If you describe someone as cute, you mean that they deal with things cleverly. [ US ] The President, trying to be cute, said his liberal arts education had not really prepared him for such …

cute - attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby"

Definition of cute adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. (comparative cuter, superlative cutest) pretty and attractive. She's so cute! Questions about grammar and …

May 13, 2025 · Lovable, charming, attractive or pleasing, especially in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way. Let's go to the mall and look for cute girls. Sexually attractive or pleasing; …

Pretty or attractive, esp. in a lively, wholesome, or dainty way. Obviously contrived to charm; precious. Shortened from acute, originally “keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd” (1731). …

pleasingly pretty: a cute child; a cute little apartment. affectedly or mincingly pretty or clever; precious: The child has acquired some intolerably cute mannerisms.

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective cute. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence. This word is used in U.S. English.