Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Beautiful, lovely, exquisite: Describes something that is aesthetically pleasing, elegant, or charming in appearance or description. It often carries a poetic or literary nuance.
   • (Vulgar, ironic) Deceptively pretty, superficially attractive: Used sarcastically or critically to describe something that is made to sound or look good in a false, exaggerated, or misleading way.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Positive):

  • Những lời mĩ miều không thể che giấu sự thật phũ phàng. (Beautiful words cannot hide the harsh truth.)
  • Cô ấy miêu tả phong cảnh ấy bằng những ngôn từ rất mĩ miều. (She described that landscape with very exquisite language.)

• Adjective (Ironic/Critical):

  • Đừng nghe những lời hứa mĩ miều ấy. (Don't listen to those deceptively pretty promises.)
  • Bản báo cáo đầy mĩ miều nhưng thiếu thực tế. (The report is full of superficially attractive but unrealistic details.)

Advanced Usage

• Often used to modify abstract nouns like lời nói (words), lời hứa (promises), ngôn từ (language), or vẻ ngoài (appearance) to imply a disparity between attractive presentation and true substance.

Variants and Related Words

• Mĩ từ (n): A beautiful or elegant word; a euphemism.
  • "An nghỉ" là một mĩ từ cho "chết". ("Rest in peace" is a euphemism for "die.")

Synonyms

• Flowery: (of language) using complex or elaborate words, sometimes excessively.
• Euphonious: (of sound, especially speech) pleasing to the ear.
• Euphemistic: using mild or indirect words to substitute for harsh or blunt ones.
• Deceptively attractive: appealing in a way that misrepresents the true nature.

Related Idioms

• Mĩ miều hóa: to beautify, to gloss over (often negatively).
  • Họ cố gắng mĩ miều hóa những sai sót trong dự án. (They tried to gloss over the mistakes in the project.)