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Glite Dictionary
to look good on

to look good on

38 2.3
To make someone seem attractive when they wear something
  • phrasal verb
  • /lʊk ɡʊd ɑn/
translation icon : quedar bien
  • That dress really does look good on you; the color suits you perfectly.
  • clothes look good on
  • suits look good on
  • outfits look good on

It's just like somehow these shades look good on so many different skin tones.

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Examples

Synonyms

to look sharp
vsto look good on
  • Informal
11 5.7

To be well dressed and neat

emphasizes the wearer's attractiveness rather than fashion or formality

Antonyms

to clash
18 3.2

To not look or work well together

How Flattering

flattering
24 3.1
to look good on
38 2.3
to suit
105 1.4

Surface Forms

look good on infinitive
looked good on past
looked good on past participle
looking good on present participle
looks good on third person singular

Morphology

look + good + on

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'look' = appear, 'good' = attractive, and 'on' = located on/with respect to someone, so together they naturally yield 'appear attractive when worn by someone.' This composition follows a common English pattern (look + adjective + on) and has parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the component words is likely to understand it.

Etymology

Look good on comes from the simple picture of clothes or colors when they are on a person; look means 'appear', good means 'attractive', and on means 'worn'. That's why we say something looks good on you when it makes you seem 'attractive'.