ugly duckling
3
4.2
- noun
- /ˈʌɡli ˈdʌklɪŋ/
:
cisne feo
- After years of struggle, he transformed from an ugly duckling into a leading expert in his field.
- ugly duckling to a swan
- tale of the ugly duckling
She's flourished like an ugly duckling who has grown into a swan.
- She's flourished like an ugly duckling who has grown into a swan.
Examples
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The once shy and overlooked artist was an ugly duckling in her early career but has now become a celebrated figure in the art world.
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It's totally the case of the ugly duckling.
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Talk about an ugly duckling turning into a swan, right?
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Yet, as with all ugly ducklings, it had its day and earned its admirers.
Blog text (30) -
she started out as such an ugly duckling and somehow suddenly became a swan -
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Now she’s coming back to Ruby Creek, a successful, confident businesswoman, and no longer the ugly duckling she had once been.
Blog text (17) -
She was a classic ugly duckling in high school, but now she is a stunning actress.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'ugly' and 'duckling' transparently convey an unattractive young bird, but they do not by themselves signal the crucial idea of later transformation into something beautiful or successful. The expression relies on the Andersen tale and functions as a cultural metaphor (found in many languages), so learners with exposure may understand it, but an average B1 learner who only knows the words would not reliably infer the full idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Ugly duckling comes from a famous fairy tale about a small bird called a duckling that looked awkward and was treated badly but later grew into a beautiful swan. So the phrase describes someone who seems 'unattractive' or 'unpromising' at first but later 'becomes beautiful' or 'admired'.