Ugly American
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of Ugly American
C20: from title of a novel (1958) by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick
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.
Trying our sympathy, Johnson’s heroine is the quintessential Ugly American: Entitled and incurious, she insults her hosts at every turn.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2022
He connects the phrase Ugly American with the phrase “ugly America,” a play on how Americans are perceived with his desire that America not be perceived as “ugly America.”
From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021
Like Gaslight, The Manchurian Candidate, or The Ugly American, Wag the Dog birthed a concept that has taken on a political afterlife independent from the work it was originally associated with.
From Slate • Jan. 14, 2020
If you've ever been to the tropics, maybe you'll understand: It's not a bad or foul smell, necessarily, and this isn't to be taken as some Ugly American pejorative of things foreign or other-skinned.
From Salon • Jan. 29, 2010
Not, however, before Frankie had time to ponder just what it means to become an Ugly American.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
