pretty good
Better than okay
Pretty good indicates satisfactory quality or condition—better than merely acceptable but short of excellent.
The phrase often downplays positive assessment, sometimes from modesty: How was the concert? Pretty good.
It can also signal genuine lukewarm approval, leaving room for unstated reservations.
In some regional speech, particularly Southern American English, pretty good becomes emphatic: That's pretty good eating.
- not badGrudging approval phrase
- not half badUnderstated praise through negation
- fairImpartial and unbiased
- fair to middlingAverage, nothing special
- reasonableShowing sound judgment
acceptable · goodish · adequate · solid · decent · satisfactory · could be worse · serviceable · tolerable · respectable · all right · can't complain · middling · passable · does the trick · moderate · fine · okay
- humble responsesit was nothing, no big deal, happy to help, my pleasure, don't mention it
- adequacyadequate, enough, sufficient, satisfactory, acceptable