ugly

ugly
ugly, hideous, ill-favored, unsightly are comparable when they mean contrary to what is beautiful or pleasing especially to the sight.
Ugly is the comprehensive term which may apply not only to what is distasteful to the sight but also to the hearing or occasionally to another sense or to whatever gives rise to repulsion, repugnance, dread, or extreme moral distaste in the mind
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acres of ugly wooden tenement houses line the drab streets— Amer. Guide Series: Mass.

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these evenings . . . ended up in a welter of ugly words, tears, misunderstandings— Styron

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it is essential to sweep away in art all that is . . . fundamentally ugly, whether by being, at the one end, distastefully pretty, or, at the other, hopelessly crude— Ellis

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how eager we are to reveal all sorts of. . . ugly secrets about ourselves— Mailer

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life in the moment. . . seemed ugly and brutal— Anderson

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Hideous carries an even stronger implication of the personal impression produced by something ugly by stressing the suggestions of induced horror or loathing; it may on occasion be applied to something which, without regard to any surface ugliness, arouses intense personal distaste
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an altogether hideous room—expensive but cheesy— Salinger

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the papers of the students dismayed me as a hideous revelation of the abysses of noneducation that are possible in the United States— Edmund Wilson

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Ill-favored applies especially to the features or to the general aspect or appearance of a person or sometimes an animal that may be described as ugly; the word emphasizes the unpleasing or disagreeable character, so far as the eyes are concerned, but seldom suggests marked distaste, repugnance, or dread
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an ill- favored thing, sir, but mine own— Shak.

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a scrawny, ill-favored little girl, always untidily dressed— Mead

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Unsightly usually refers to things, especially material things, upon which the eye dwells with no pleasure; it often is used in place of ugly when a connotation of distaste is not strongly marked
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their unsightly hovels were not visible from his melancholy old house on the hill— Deland

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an unsightly swamp and dump grounds— Amer. Guide Series: Minn.

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Analogous words: *plain, homely: grotesque, bizarre (see FANTASTIC)
Antonyms: beautiful
Contrasted words: fair, lovely, handsome, pretty, comely, good-looking (see BEAUTIFUL)

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • Ugly — Ug ly, a. [Compar. {Uglier}; superl. {Ugliest}.] [Icel. uggligr fearful, dreadful; uggr fear (akin to ugga to fear) + ligr (akin to E. ly, like). ??. Cf. {Awe}.] 1. Offensive to the sight; contrary to beauty; being of disagreeable or loathsome… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ugly — may refer to:* Ugly (song), a Sugababes song * Ugly (album), a Life of Agony album * Ugly (Blaque song), a song from the band Blaque * Ugly (House), the seventy seventh episode of the television series House * Ugly (single), a single from Bubba… …   Wikipedia

  • ugly — [ug′lē] adj. uglier, ugliest [ME uglike < ON uggligr, fearful, dreadful < uggr, fear, prob. < IE base * ak̑ , sharp > Gr akē, a point] 1. unpleasing to look at; aesthetically offensive or unattractive; unsightly 2. bad, vile,… …   English World dictionary

  • ugly — (adj.) mid 13c., uglike frightful or horrible in appearance, from O.N. 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.… …   Etymology dictionary

  • ugly — [adj1] unattractive animal, appalling, awful, bad looking, beastly, deformed, disfigured, foul, frightful, grisly, gross, grotesque, hard featured, hideous, homely, horrid, illfavored, loathsome, misshapen, monstrous, not much to look at*, plain …   New thesaurus

  • Ugly — Ug ly, v. t. To make ugly. [R.] Richardson. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Ugly — Ug ly, n. A shade for the face, projecting from the bonnet. [Colloq. Eng.] C. Kingsley. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ugly — index loathsome, odious, repulsive, scandalous Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • UGLY — Duckling Corporation (Business » Firms) * Unique Gifted Lovable You (Miscellaneous » Funnies) * U Got To Love Yourself (Community) * U Gotta Love Yourself (Community » Religion) * Understanding Generous Loveable You (Internet » Chat) *… …   Abbreviations dictionary

  • ugly — ► ADJECTIVE (uglier, ugliest) 1) unpleasant or repulsive in appearance. 2) hostile or threatening; likely to involve unpleasantness. DERIVATIVES uglify verb ugliness noun. ORIGIN from Old Norse, to be dreaded …   English terms dictionary

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