Sweet, engaging, winning, winsome, dulcet are comparable when they are applied to persons or things with respect to the sensations they evoke or the impressions they produce and mean distinctly pleasing or charming because devoid of all that irritates, annoys, or embitters.
Sweet when extended beyond its primary application to one of the basic taste sensations, whether to things that produce other sensory impressions or to persons or things that induce emotional or intellectual response, is ordinarily a term of mild general approbation for what pleases, attracts, or charms without stirring deeply or arousing a profound response, but in this as in its primary application sweet may also imply an excess of what in more moderate quantity is pleasing and then comes close to surfeiting or cloying (compare SATIATE ).
Engaging and winning come very close to one another, both implying a power to attract favorable attention and strongly suggesting a power to please or delight; engaging , however, more often stresses the power of a thing to attract such attention, whereas winning usually emphasizes the power of a person to please or delight.
Winsome is chiefly applied to persons or to their attractions; the term is somewhat more inclusive in meaning than the others, for it usually implies an engaging quality, a cheerful disposition, pleasing though not striking looks, and often a childlike quality.
Dulcet suggests an appealing and gratifying or soothing quality whether to the senses (as of some, especially musical, sounds) or to the feelings or emotions.