pretty pictures

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Attractive but unrealistic or misleading representations

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

hình ảnh hấp dẫn nhưng không thực tế hoặc lừa đảo

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: images that are pleasing to look at
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company's annual report was full of pretty pictures, but the financials were bleak

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “pretty pictures” mean?

Attractive but unrealistic or misleading representations Literally: images that are pleasing to look at

Is “pretty pictures” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.