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ugly

Syllabification: (ug·ly)
Pronunciation: /ˈəglē/
Translate ugly | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of ugly

adjective (uglier, ugliest)

  • unpleasant or repulsive, especially in appearance:she thought she was ugly and fat the ugly sound of a fire alarm (as noun the ugly)he instinctively shrinks from the ugly
  • (of a situation or mood) involving or likely to involve violence or other unpleasantness:the mood in the room turned ugly
  • unpleasantly suggestive; causing disquiet:ugly rumors persisted that there had been a cover-up
  • morally repugnant:racism and its most ugly manifestations, racial attacks and harassment

Derivatives

uglification

Pronunciation: /ˌəgləfiˈkāSHən/
noun

uglify

Pronunciation: /ˈəgləˌfī/
verb (uglifies, uglifying, uglified)

uglily

Pronunciation: /-ləlē/
adverb

ugliness

noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Old Norse uggligr 'to be dreaded', from ugga 'to dread'

Spelling rule

If a word ends in a consonant plus -y, change the -y to an -i before adding any ending (unless the ending already begins with an -i): (uglier, ugliest).

ugly in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of ugly in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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