- of unpleasant or unsightly appearance
- repulsive, objectionable, or displeasing in any way: war is ugly
- ominous or menacing: an ugly situation
- bad-tempered, angry, or sullen: an ugly mood
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ug•ly /ˈʌgli/USA pronunciation
adj., -li•er, -li•est.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- very unattractive or displeasing in appearance:an ugly fence of barbed wire.
- disagreeable;
unpleasant:ugly weather. - frightful;
dreadful:an ugly wound. - hostile;
quarrelsome:an ugly mood.
ug•ly
(ug′lē),USA pronunciation adj., -li•er, -li•est.
ug′li•ly, adv.
ug′li•ness, n.
- 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. - (esp. of natural phenomena) unpleasant or dangerous:ugly weather; an ugly sea.
- Old Norse uggligr fearful, dreadful, equivalent. to ugg(r) fear + -ligr -ly
- Middle English ugly, uglike 1200–50
ug′li•ness, n.
- 1. ill-favored, hard-featured, uncomely, unsightly, unlovely, homely. 3. base, heinous, vile, monstrous, corrupt. 4. disadvantageous, ominous. 5. surly, spiteful. 6. stormy, tempestuous.
- 1. beautiful.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
ugly /ˈʌɡlɪ/ adj ( -lier, -liest)
'ugly' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
bag
- beldam
- blight
- clash
- crow
- dwarf
- eyesore
- fugly
- gnome
- grimace
- hag
- hideous
- homely
- ill-favoured
- minging
- monstrosity
- mug
- plug-ugly
- UGLI
- uglify
- ugly duckling
- unsightly
- witch
- aesthetics
- also
- ape
- awful
- beautiful
- bocaccio
- Caliban
- changeling
- Chichivache
- deform
- defuse
- dog
- dreadful
- foul
- goblin
- Gorgon
- gorilla
- grotesque
- grungy
- handsome
- ill-favored
- ill-looking
- map
- monster
- monstrous
- nasty
- occlusive