ugly
- very unattractive or unpleasant to look at; offensive to the sense of beauty; displeasing in appearance.
- disagreeable; unpleasant; objectionable: ugly tricks; ugly discords.
- morally revolting: ugly crime.
- threatening trouble or danger: ugly symptoms.
- mean; hostile; quarrelsome: an ugly mood; an ugly frame of mind.
- (especially of natural phenomena) unpleasant or dangerous: ugly weather; an ugly sea.
Origin of ugly
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Related Words
unpleasantnessdisfigurementhideousnessplainnessunsightlinesshomelinessoffensivenesswickednessfoulnessmonstrousnessExamples from the Web for ugliness
Contemporary Examples
And considering the ugliness rising in his native land, Forgács must be seen as a political artist, whether he likes it or not.
In Hands of Hungarian Artist, Jewish Home Movies of the ’30s a Warning of Coming HolocaustDaniel Genis
October 25, 2014
I can see vulgarity and ugliness anywhere I want to look, and I can see it for free.
If we aspire to that personally and legislate for it publicly, the ugliness will dissipate.
The ideology of bigotry can be found all over Europe, in fact, and its ugliness is spreading like gangrene, especially in France.
All that is almost invariably the stuff of ugliness, violence, and disaster—the stuff of “unbeing.”
Historical Examples
I could not find the words to explain to a man my horror of ugliness.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
Aftervard, v'en beauty is common as ugliness is now—ah, I do not know.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
His embarrassment, or ugliness of temper, or whatever it was, was gone.
The UnderdogF. Hopkinson Smith
They were all sorry for me in my misery, and were touched by my ugliness.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
You can devote yourself to the elimination of ugliness, to the increase of beauty.
City of Endless NightMilo Hastings
ugly
- of unpleasant or unsightly appearance
- repulsive, objectionable, or displeasing in any waywar is ugly
- ominous or menacingan ugly situation
- bad-tempered, angry, or sullenan ugly mood
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for ugliness
ugly
adj.
mid-13c., uglike "frightful or horrible in appearance," from Old Norse uggligr "dreadful, fearful," from uggr "fear, apprehension, dread" (perhaps related to agg "strife, hate") + -ligr "-like." Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" late 14c. Extended sense of "morally offensive" is attested from c.1300; that of "ill-tempered" is from 1680s.
Among words for this concept, ugly is unusual in being formed from a root for "fear, dread." More common is a compound meaning "ill-shaped" (e.g. Greek dyseides, Latin deformis, Irish dochrud, Sanskrit ku-rupa). Another Germanic group has a root sense of "hate, sorrow" (see loath). Ugly duckling (1877) is from the story by Hans Christian Andersen, first translated from Danish to English 1846. Ugly American "U.S. citizen who behaves offensively abroad" is first recorded 1958 as a book title.
Idioms and Phrases with ugliness
ugly
In addition to the idioms beginning with ugly
- ugly as sin
- ugly customer
- ugly duckling
also see:
- rear its ugly head