What does ugly mean?
Word: Ugly
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Ugly means unpleasant to look at. It can also describe a situation that becomes nasty or threatening, such as an ugly quarrel.
Synonyms: unattractive, hideous, unsightly
Antonyms: pretty, lovely, attractive
How do you spell ugly?
Syllables: ug - ly
Tricky part: The ee sound at the end is spelt with a plain y. Children who hear it often write ugley or uglee.
Watch out for: ugley, uglee, uglie
Memory tip: Picture the ugly duckling with a tail shaped like a y: the word ends with that one y, never with ee.
Idioms and Phrases
- ugly duckling: a person who seems plain or awkward at first but grows up to be admired Example: "Bhavna called herself the ugly duckling of the dance class, but two years later she was its best dancer."
Ugly in a sentence
Example 1: The grey wall behind the school looked ugly until the children painted a mural on it.
Example 2: Felix thought the toad was ugly, but his sister wanted to keep it as a pet.
Example 3: The argument turned ugly when both sides started shouting.
Fun Fact
Ugly comes from the Old Norse word uggligr, which meant dreadful. At first the word described something frightening, not just something unpleasant to see.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word:
ugly
a) beautiful
b) shabby
c) plain
d) gloomy
Show answer
a) beautiful. Beautiful describes something lovely to look at, the very opposite of ugly.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The uggly stains on the new sofa came from Rahul's mango juice.
a) juice
b) sofa
c) uggly
d) stains
Show answer
c) uggly. Ugly has a single g, just as it has a single l.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
lgyu
a) glum
b) gully
c) ugly
d) guy
Show answer
c) ugly. Only ugly uses each of the four letters once; gully and glum bring in letters the jumble does not have, and guy leaves out the l.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) dredful
b) ugly
c) unplesant
d) horible
Show answer
b) ugly. Horrible needs two r's, unpleasant has ea after the l, and dreadful has ea after the r.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Halfway through the match, the sky turned ugly. What did the players most likely see?
a) a bright, clear sun
b) a lovely rainbow
c) dark, heavy storm clouds
d) a flock of pigeons
Show answer
c) dark, heavy storm clouds
2. Most people would call ____ ugly.
a) a bright rainbow
b) a field of sunflowers
c) a peacock's tail
d) a rusty, dented tin
Show answer
d) a rusty, dented tin
