eyesore
Americannoun
-
eyesores
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eyesore
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at eye, sore
Explanation
Something that's really unpleasant to look at is an eyesore. You could call your apartment building an eyesore if it's a huge, ugly concrete structure that looms over your street. Most eyesores are structures or buildings — an old, decrepit house that's sagging on one side and has a yard full of weeds is probably thought of as an eyesore by most of its neighbors. You might also describe a new hotel as an eyesore if it's painted a strange shade of pink that clashes with the buildings nearby. The word eyesore has been around since the 1500's, from the idea of "something so offensive to the eye that it hurts."
Vocabulary lists containing eyesore
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Burying the cables is expensive so if this is an alternative to make it a bit less of an eyesore, it's probably a good idea."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Since then, the site has sat empty and become an eyesore, said Chito Vela, an Austin city council member whose district includes the project.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
To the east, the city’s Department of Transportation plaza is a fenced-off eyesore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026
Once a neighbourhood eyesore, Heuermann's childhood home now draws the media and true crime obsessives.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026
He shifted in his seat and took out an eyesore of a handkerchief—a gray, wadded entity—and blew his nose.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
But festering eyesores are everywhere, as Bass herself indicated when she called in to KTLA-TV.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
While the Interior Department cited security concerns, the president has railed against the turbines as eyesores and bad for property values.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
He spoke glowingly about his father’s early years as a Manhattan developer, his work turning eyesores into thriving skyscrapers, and the “vision he had to do things differently.”
From Washington Times ● Nov. 13, 2023
But that doesn’t help the problem of toxic metals from this crap which scientists say are now polluting our upper atmosphere, nor the light pollution these eyesores create.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2023
I refer to gardens, parks, lawns, and, in general, to pieces of land so situated that, were they left to grow up to weeds and briers, they would be eyesores and inconveniences to all about.
From Looking Backward 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
