“How lovely!”

You received a birthday gift from a coworker. You are opening it in front of her. It's a shirt for you. You want to make her think that you're happy about the gift, so you say:

How lovely!

How (adjective)!

The expression "How lovely!" means that something is very lovely. "How ___" is an expression to show that you feel a strong and surprising emotion about something.

Note that "How ___!" is only used by itself. You never use it in a sentence like "This shirt is how lovely."

Other great examples of "How ___!" include:

How wonderful!

How beautiful!

How embarrassing!

How sweet of you!

a lovely (thing)

The word "lovely" means "nice" or "beautiful". But it sounds more strongly positive than "nice". It's a word that's often used by older and more conservative women.

Things that can be called "lovely" include:

• The weather.

  What a lovely day!

• A person.

  Don't you look lovely!

• Clothes, household decorations, and other pretty objects.

  I found a lovely bedspread on sale at Macy's.