different between ugly vs unpretty

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

Etymology 1

From un- +? pretty (adjective).

Adjective

unpretty (comparative more unpretty, superlative most unpretty)

1. Not pretty.
   • 1999, TLC (band), Unpretty (song)

     I wish I could tie you up in my shoes, / Make you feel unpretty too. / I was told I was beautiful / But what does that mean to you?

Synonyms

• unlovely

Etymology 2

From un- +? pretty (verb).

Verb

unpretty (third-person singular simple present unpretties, present participle unprettying, simple past and past participle unprettied)

1. (transitive) To make unpretty or less attractive
   • 2006, Leigh Montville, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth:

     Vast gloom unprettied the features of Herman Ruth today when he gave himself to serious contemplation of the distressing futility of many things and how increasingly tough it's becoming for an honest feller to get along in this wearying world.

   • 2011, Ira Sukrungruang, Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy:

     I turned toward him. I wanted to unpretty Simon's prettiness—bloody his outfit, crush his nose, and knock out his teeth.

   • 2013, Marc Maron, Attempting Normal:

     I looked around and saw a blond woman wearing old-lady glasses and sitting by herself. It was her. The woman from the modeling spread. It's always a little silly to see pretty women trying to unpretty themselves with glasses.