Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having a distinct shape.
  • adjective Having a pleasing shape.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Well-formed; having a regular and pleasing shape; symmetrical.
  • Fit; likely.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Well-formed; having a regular shape; comely; symmetrical.
  • adjective obsolete Fit; suitable.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective having a pleasing shape, pleasant to look at

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having a well-proportioned and pleasing shape

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

shape +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • Again, my fantasy, and other than having enough room to breathe and not cramp up with my long legs and giant (again shapely and attractive!) ass, that is my greatest wish.

    #42 Comic of the Day « 1979 Semi-Finalist… 2007

  • But it seems with this particular book that I have to get it all and more than all down and wander all over the heck and gone like a staggering drunk searching for car keys in a freshly plowed field, and only then will I be able to go back and cut things into any kind of shapely form.

    Rambling Digression #1 kateelliott 2007

  • Under Spurling's care, Sonia blossoms into a medieval enchantress: '' She had luxuriant pale gold hair, the coloring of a pink and white tea rose, and the kind of shapely, deep-breasted, full-hipped figure that would have looked well in close-fitting

    The Girl from the Fiction Department: The Widow Orwell 2003

  • Walter Pater, to whom the beauty of the human form, and therefore of sculpture, was especially appealing, loved to use such terms as "shapely," "comely," "blythe," "gracious,"

    Personality in Literature Rolfe Arnold Scott-James

  • "Seems to have been made for it," Boardman exulted, watching the envelope, as it filled up, expand into a kind of shapely packet.

    April Hopes William Dean Howells 1878

  • She has long shapely legs and a short tight skirt.

    Claudia Ricci: Seeing Red -- "Your Escape Starts Right Here" Claudia Ricci 2011

  • Like his boss, Javier was also fascinated by Abigail, and as he danced with her he was "captivated by her energy and grace, the way her bright skirt shimmied with her hips, and her dancer's legs, long and shapely, on full display with every cross-body lead and turn."

    Drink One to Me, Christian Bennett by Vicki Allen 2009

  • For a casual-chic look that shows off shapely legs, try a long tunic over heavy, opaque tights.

    The Sudden Disappearance of the Miniskirt Christina Binkley 2011

  • The trouble is, as soon as I get a bit of a lick on, my progress is halted by two women of roughly my vintage who seem to believe that progressing the length of the pool in a stately fashion side by side, chatting all the while, blocking the lane, will keep them fit, or give them a shapely bottom, or something.

    Darts in the Olympics would be a tungsten treat 2011

  • She has long shapely legs and a short tight skirt.

    Claudia Ricci: Seeing Red -- "Your Escape Starts Right Here" Claudia Ricci 2011

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