pretty vs somewhat :

pretty or somewhat

It’s pretty common to use “pretty” to mean “somewhat” in ordinaryspeech; but it should be avoided in formal writing, where sometimes"very” is more appropriate. The temptation to use “pretty” usuallyindicates the writer is being vague, so changing to something morespecific may be an even better solution: “a pretty bad mess” might be“chocolate syrup spilled all over the pizza which had been dumped upsidedown on the carpet.”

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Definitions
  pretty
  • s  pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
    pretty girl
    pretty song
    pretty room
  • s  (used ironically) unexpectedly bad
    a pretty mess
    a pretty kettle of fish
  • r  to a moderately sufficient extent or degree
    pretty big
    pretty bad
  somewhat
  • r  to a small degree or extent
    his arguments were somewhat self-contradictory
  • r  to a moderately sufficient extent or degree
News & Articles
  pretty
  somewhat
  • LeBron James executes his greatest complaint yet
    LeBron James has somewhat of a reputation of complaining about calls. Maybe he feels he needs to complain like this in order for the referees to truly believe him anymore.
    June 17, 2013 - Philly.com
  • Brian Orakpo, Redskins not working on long-term deal
    Brian Orakpo has been somewhat of an enigma during his time in the NFL. Injuries have made it difficult to evaluate the Washington Redskins linebacker, who is 'not worried' about his contract situation heading into training camp.
    June 17, 2013 - NFL.com
  • Bay Area Baseball: A's, Mariners lineups, and the unicorn backpack changes hands
    OAKLAND -- Somewhat quietly, the Mariners have to have one of the best 1-2 punches atop their starting rotation in the American League, if not all of baseball. Consider: A day after being shut out by nemesis Felix Hernandez, the former Cy Young winner and owner of a perfect game, the A's today face the pitcher that leads the A.L. in fewest baserunners allowed and strikeout-to-walk ratio, and has ...
    June 16, 2013 - The Sacramento Bee