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ugliness

ugliness

16 1.4
A quality of being unpleasant to look at
  • noun
  • /ˈʌɡlɪnəs/
translation icon : fealdad
  • There's nothing but ugliness here.
  • physical ugliness
  • beauty and ugliness

The sheer and redeemed hideous ugliness.

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Examples

  • Many people cannot see the underlying ugliness in the way society treats its vulnerable members.

  • There is so much ugliness in the world.

  • It's nice to see some beauty in all this ugliness.

  • If you leave, they will see only ugliness.

  • In the course of his professional duties, Kedrigern had seen ugliness in many forms.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Nathan shook his head at that, thinking about the ugliness of the crowd in town that day.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Some were stunned by the ugliness of the city and longed to return to the redwoods.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The artist painted a scene that captured the ugliness of urban decay.

  • The movie addressed themes of ugliness and how it often hides beneath the surface.

Synonyms

hideousness
vsugliness
2 6.3

Extreme ugliness that makes people feel shocked or disgusted

is milder, covering ordinary unattractive appearances as well
unsightliness
vsugliness
1 6.7

Being unpleasant to look at

is the general term for that same appearance quality
unattractiveness
vsugliness
1 4.7

The way something looks when people do not find it pleasing

is the broader label for that same visual quality
grotesqueness
vsugliness
1 8.1

A state when something looks ugly and strange in a way that shocks

refers more generally to being visually unpleasant without distortion
repulsiveness
vsugliness
1 7.0

A strong feeling of disgust that makes you want to move away

is less intense, meaning simply unpleasant or unattractive in looks
loathsomeness
vsugliness
1 9.1

A strong feeling that something is very unpleasant or disgusting

is the milder visual quality of being unpleasant without disgust
unpleasingness
vsugliness
8.2

How bad something looks, sounds, or smells to you

focuses on visual unpleasantness as a general quality
plainness
vsugliness
4.6

Not having an attractive appearance

is broader, covering neutral looks and more strongly unpleasant appearances
hominess
vsugliness
9.5

A plain, unattractive look of a person or building

is wider, applying to any unattractive or unpleasant appearance
unbecomingness
vsugliness
  • Formal
9.1

The quality of being inappropriate in behavior or appearance

focuses only on unattractive appearance without social appropriateness
monstrousness
vsugliness
7.8

The quality of being very ugly or cruel in a way that shocks people

concerns only unattractive appearance without cruelty or shock

Antonyms

847 1.0

A combination of qualities like shape and color that pleases the eye

19 3.2

The quality that makes people notice and like someone's looks or character

How Ugly

hideousness
2 6.3
ugliness
16 1.4
plainness
1 3.5

Surface Forms

ugliness singular
uglinesses plural

Morphology

ugliness = ugly (transparent) = ugly + ness

Formed regularly from the adjective 'ugly' plus the nominalizing suffix '-ness', giving the quality of being ugly, which is directly predictable.

Etymology

The word ugliness comes from ugly plus the ending -ness, meaning the 'state of being ugly', so it names the quality of an appearance that people find unpleasant.