different between ugly vs forbidding

English

Alternative forms

• ougly (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???li/
• Rhymes: -??li

Adjective

ugly (comparative uglier, superlative ugliest)

1. Displeasing to the eye; not aesthetically pleasing.
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. Unpleasant; disagreeable; likely to cause trouble or loss.

Related terms

• ug

Synonyms

• (displeasing to the eye): hideous, homely, repulsive, unattractive, uncomely, unsightly
• (displeasing to the ear or some other sense): displeasing, repulsive, unattractive
• (offensive to one's sensibilities or morality): corrupt, immoral, vile
• See also Thesaurus:ugly

Antonyms

• (displeasing to the eye): attractive, beautiful, gorgeous, handsome, pretty, sightly
• (displeasing to the ear or some other sense): attractive, pleasing
• (offensive to one's sensibilities or morality): moral

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

ugly (countable and uncountable, plural uglies)

1. (slang, uncountable) Ugliness.
   • 2009: Lady Gaga and RedOne, "Bad Romance":

     I want your ugly / I want your disease.

2. (slang) An ugly person or thing.
3. (Britain, informal, dated) A shade for the face, projecting from a bonnet.
   • 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago

     blue uglies

Translations

Verb

ugly (third-person singular simple present uglies, present participle uglying, simple past and past participle uglied)

1. (transitive, nonstandard) To make ugly (sometimes with up).

Anagrams

• guly

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??b?d??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??b?d??/
• Rhymes: -?d??
• Hyphenation: for?bid?ding

Adjective

forbidding (comparative more forbidding, superlative most forbidding)

1. Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
   • 1726, Alexander Pope (translator), The Odyssey of Homer, London, 1760, Volume 3, Book 15, lines 57-58, p. 100,^[1]

     What cause, cry’d he, can justify our flight,

     To tempt the dangers of forbidding night?

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, London: T. Egerton, Volume I, Chapter 3,^[2]

     […] he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.

   • 1922, Emily Post, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1923, Chapter 28, p. 498,^[3]

     The writer of the “blank” letter begins fluently with the date and “Dear Mary,” and then sits and chews his penholder or makes little dots and squares and circles on the blotter—utterly unable to attack the cold, forbidding blankness of that first page.

   • 1988, “If You Can’t Fight City Hall, Here’s a Different Idea: Sell It,” The New York Times, 10 January, 1988,^[4]

     Its forbidding brick and concrete exterior looms over a vast, windswept brick plaza in a style architectural critics, not without admiration, call “The New Brutalism.”

Antonyms

• approachable
• inviting
• welcoming

Translations

Verb

forbidding

1. present participle of forbid

Noun

forbidding (plural forbiddings)

1. The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece,^[5]

     But all these poor forbiddings could not stay him;

   • 1920, St. John G. Ervine, The Foolish Lovers, London: W. Collins & Sons, Chapter 3, VIII, p. 228,^[6]

     All law was composed of hindrances and obstacles and forbiddings, and therefore he was entirely opposed to Law.