ugly duckling
- an unattractive or unpromising child who becomes a beautiful or much-admired adult.
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Origin of ugly duckling
First recorded in 1880–85; after the bird in the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
frightugly duckling
- a person or thing, initially ugly or unpromising, that changes into something beautiful or admirable
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Word Origin
an allusion to The Ugly Duckling, a story by Hans Christian Andersen
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Idioms and Phrases with ugly duckling
ugly duckling
A homely or unpromising individual who grows into an attractive or talented person, as in She was the family ugly duckling but blossomed in her twenties. This term alludes to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale about a cygnet hatched with ducklings that is despised for its clumsiness until it grows up into a beautiful swan. The tale was first translated into English in 1846, and the term was used figuratively by 1871.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.