ugly

Meaning

Adj

1. Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing.
2. Displeasing to the ear or some other sense.
3. Offensive to one's sensibilities or morality.
4. (Southern-US) Ill-natured; crossgrained; quarrelsome.
5. (derogatory, figuratively) Unpleasant; disagreeable; likely to cause trouble or loss.

Noun

1. (slang, uncountable) Ugliness.
2. (countable, slang, uncountable) An ugly person or thing.
3. (countable, informal, uncountable) Any product whose size and shape prevents it from fitting neatly on a pallet.
4. (UK, countable, dated, informal, uncountable) A shade for the face, projecting from a bonnet.

Verb

To make ugly (sometimes with up).

Synonyms

nasty

unattractive

unsightly

bad

👎

unpleasant

hideous

deformed

plain

disagreeable

homely

dirty

disgusting

vile

evil

ill-favored

wretched

horrid

horrible

unlovely

mean

rotten

abominable

slimy

repulsive

nauseating

loathsome

despicable

worthless

filthy

unworthy

unstylish

atrocious

trashy

uncool

strange

surly

uncouth

disfigured

shitty

scar

secret

㊙️

no-good

menacing

misshapen

odd

lousy

low

frightful

awkward

foul

Translations

laid

feo

brutto

hässlich

lelijk

feio

vilain

🦹‍♂️

άσχημος

قبيح

moche

turpis

häßlich

feia

lleig

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈʌɡli/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: ugly

Cognate with Scots: ugly

Cognate with Icelandic: ugglegur

In summary

Inherited from Middle English ugly, uggely, uglike, borrowed from Old Norse uggligr (“fearful, dreadful, horrible in appearance”), from uggr (“fear, apprehension, dread”) (possibly related to agg (“strife, hate”)), equivalent to ug + -ly. Cognate with Scots ugly, uglie, Icelandic ugglegur. Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" around the late 14th century, and sense of "morally offensive" attested from around 1300.
For the meaning development compare Bulgarian грозен (grozen) (< Proto-Slavic *grozьnъ), Russian стра́шный (strášnyj) (< Proto-Slavic *strašьnъ < *straxъ); Latin foedus (< Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂-).

Sentences

He is nicknamed " Ugly Prince Consort ".