I would say that beautiful is on a higher plane than pretty is, though I'm not certain cute could be considered an insult. Perhaps, this is depending on the gender of whomever is labelled as cute (for men, most obviously, it could work as an insult). But a girl being called cute would likely go for it, so I wouldn't think it's that bad.

Agreed on the whole sexy/hot phase. It can be received as just a derivative way of treating the person like a bag of flesh in lieu of an actual person.

If I think about it, I never really label people as hot, but more pretty or even mesmerizing. :O

^When I said beautiful for pretty, I meant if the person is beautiful and their beauty is downplayed by being called pretty. I find cute to be an insult because little kids and teddy bears are cute :)
I guess it all just boils down to people not knowing what the words they are using mean.

This is a conversation that I have with a lot of people, the whole type of grading system. From what I figured by asking guys, when they say
A) Cute - it could either mean that they have a cute personality, that they're really friendly and they have nice little sweet mannerisms that make them want to hug the girl. OR it could mean that the girl isn't strikingly beautiful/sexy nor is she ugly, but because they're nice girls it makes them cute.

B) Pretty - Tends to mean the latter of the Cute description.

C) Beautiful - Is only used when the person has actual feelings for the person on a personal level, and not just on physical attraction.

D) Hot - Now THIS is the one that people can't seem to decide on. Sometimes hot can mean that the girl/guy just oozes sex appeal. They are physically attractive, and sometimes SO attractive that there isn't even a sense of attraction TO them because they don't trust them due to their looks or some other reason. Basically sometimes you can find someone hot, but just not want to go out with them. Or you might. It could be someone you're attracted to both physically and spiritually.

I'm just as bad as other people when using these terms. I admit to calling guys cute, and it can be seen as degrading since it's like "awww look a the cute little puppy". But I can't really call a guy pretty...so I tend to stick with good looking and hot.

I tend to see each of those words as having different meanings, but not that any of them are better than another in the long run. I've been attracted to women that might fall into one category, but not another. Ultimately, though, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

a guy friend told me sometime ago:

hot: someone you want to sleep with for a night, maybe even two, but that's it.

pretty: someone you want to sleep with many nights, and marry and live the rest of your lives together.

I think that's pretty true ._.;