Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Attractive for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "attractive" — an adjective, pronounced /əˈtræktɪv/, with the stress on "trac".
Narrator: Attractive means pleasing or appealing — physically, aesthetically, or in terms of value: an attractive offer.
Narrator: In plain English, attractive is anything that pulls your interest towards it.
Narrator: Its root is pulling — Latin "attrahere": "ad", towards, plus "trahere", to draw or pull.
Narrator: That physics-like root explains its range — attraction pulls, whether it's a face, a price, or a magnet.
Narrator: Its everyday use covers looks — an attractive man, an attractive dress.
Narrator: But business uses it just as often — an attractive salary, an attractive interest rate.
Narrator: Its opposite, unattractive, is gentler than ugly — a polite way to signal lack of appeal.
Narrator: So remember: attractive is the pull made visible — in faces, prices, and everything that draws you closer.
Speaker A: I hear "attractive" used for salaries and interest rates just as much as for people. Is that a stretch of the original meaning?
Speaker B: Not a stretch at all — it's the ORIGINAL meaning! ATTRACTIVE comes from Latin "attrahere", to draw or pull towards — a purely physical pulling force, like magnetism. Faces and salaries both "pull" you in!
Speaker A: So the money sense isn't a later, looser meaning?
Speaker B: It's arguably closer to the root — attraction as a force, applying equally to a good deal and a good-looking stranger.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "He's a genuinely attractive person, inside and out"; "an attractive salary package"; "the offer looks attractive on paper" — dating, job ads, and finance.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Double T, no double C: a-t-t-r-a-c-t-i-v-e. And in professional writing, "attractive" for a person can sound overly personal — safer to say "appealing" in formal reviews about candidates!
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: "Appealing" the safer professional twin, "good-looking" for appearance specifically, "tempting" adds a hint of risk, "desirable" the formal cousin. Attractive keeps the universal pull!
Speaker B: Let's use "attractive" in AI prompts — it's the word for making interfaces and offers genuinely appealing to look at and use.
Speaker A: So attractive in a prompt means visually and commercially appealing?
Speaker B: Exactly. For a landing page, you'd write:
Prompt: Make my pricing page more attractive — highlight the most popular plan with a subtle border and badge, and keep the layout clean with plenty of white space.
Speaker A: Good — what about a product listing?
Speaker B: The e-commerce prompt:
Prompt: Redesign my product cards to look more attractive — larger images, a clear discount badge, and star ratings visible without scrolling.
Speaker A: Color themes?
Speaker B: The branding prompt:
Prompt: Suggest an attractive colour palette for my finance app that feels trustworthy and modern, avoiding anything too playful or childish.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: The offer prompt:
Prompt: Make my free-trial offer more attractive on the signup page by clearly stating no card required and showing exactly what's included.
Speaker A: Attractive always pairs with a concrete design or business change.
Speaker B: Exactly — say attractive, and the AI focuses on the specific pull, not vague prettiness.
Attractive — meaning in Arabic & definition More A courses GL Dictionary