to look like a gargoyle

9.8

To look very ugly and frightening like an old stone statue

idiom

Offensive

: parecer un monstruo

The old man hunched over on the bench, looking like a gargoyle watching over the park.

Examples

After pulling an all-nighter, he looked like a gargoyle in the meeting.
That statue looks like a gargoyle!
With her wild hair and scowl, she looked like a gargoyle guarding the entrance.
Why does he look like a gargoyle in that outfit?
After the long night, he felt as if he looked like a gargoyle with disheveled hair and weary eyes.
After getting caught in the rain and failing to fix her hair, she joked that she looked like a gargoyle.
In that old costume, he really looked like a gargoyle perched on the edge of the building.

Antonyms

beautiful

∞ 1.0

Pleasant to see, hear, or think about

attractive

680 1.0

Pleasing to look at or enjoy and making people interested

How Ugly

hideous

171 5.1

to look like a gargoyle

Offensive

9.8

grotesque

75 6.9

ugly

Offensive

1 2.0

plain

50 2.5

Surface Forms

look like a gargoyle infinitive

looked like a gargoyle past

looked like a gargoyle past participle

looking like a gargoyle present participle

looks like a gargoyle third person singular

Morphology

look + like + a + gargoyle

This is a straightforward simile built from 'look' (to appear) + 'like' (similar to) + 'gargoyle' (a grotesque stone figure); if a learner knows the constituent words they can directly infer the meaning 'appear grotesque or ugly.' The composition follows a common cross-linguistic pattern ('look like X'), so the meaning is transparently derived from the parts.

Etymology

Look like a gargoyle comes from the stone figures on old buildings called gargoyles, which have strange, ugly faces that seem to watch people at doors. So, saying someone looks like a gargoyle means they appear 'ugly' or 'scary'.