Giáo án tiếng Anh 12 - Ugly / ˈʌɡli / adjective (comparative uglier, superlative ugliest)

 Ngân Phương Vy ~ July 31st, 2014 UGLY 1 
UGLY / ˈʌɡli / adjective 
(comparative uglier , superlative ugliest) 
1. extremely unattractive and unpleasant to look at = hideous ≠ beautiful: 
 - a very ugly man 
 - the ugliest building in town 
 - Nick’s dog is as ugly as sin (= very ugly). 
2. used to describe a situation which is very bad or violent, and which makes you feel frightened or 
threatened: 
 - There were ugly scenes as rival gangs started attacking each other. 
 - an ugly incident 
3. ugly ideas, feelings, remarks etc are unpleasant: 
 - Jealousy is an ugly emotion. 
 - ugly rumors 
4. ugly duckling someone who is less attractive, successful etc than other people, but who becomes 
beautiful and successful later 
— ugliness noun [uncountable] 
THESAURUS 
ugly very unpleasant to look at - used about people, objects, and buildings : She thinks she's ugly but she's 
not. | an ugly block of flats | cheap ugly furniture 
unattractive not pleasant to look at. Unattractive sounds more formal and less strong than ugly : an 
unattractive modern town which was built during the 1960s | Women found him unattractive. 
unsightly formal not pleasant to look at, and spoiling the appearance of something : Unsightly red spots 
started to appear on her face. | The windows have been blocked off with unsightly metal bars. 
hideous extremely ugly : His hideous face twisted into a smile. | a hideous concrete shopping centre | a 
hideous monster 
repulsive extremely ugly, especially in a way that makes you want to look away : His appearance was so 
repulsive he had to wear a mask. 
grotesque extremely ugly in a strange or unnatural way : A grotesque figure appeared out of the darkness. 
an eyesore ( also a blot on the landscape ) noun [ singular ] something that is so ugly that it spoils the 
appearance of an area : Local residents regard the new office building as an eyesore. | I think wind turbines 
are a blot on the landscape - why can't people just use less electricity? 
 Ngân Phương Vy ~ July 31st, 2014 UGLY 2 
RELATED WORDS & EXPRESSIONS 
1. person 
ugly /ˈʌgli/ [adjective] extremely unattractive, with a face that is not at all nice to look at: ▪ We hated our 
uncle. He was fat and ugly, with tiny eyes and a long, pointed nose .▪ An ugly little man came over and 
offered to buy me a drink. 
hideous /ˈhɪdiəs/ [adjective] extremely ugly, especially because you were born with something wrong with 
you: ▪ In fairy stories the Prince is always very handsome, and the witch hideous.▪ a man with a hideous 
twisted lip 
repulsive /rɪˈpʌlsɪv/ [adjective] very ugly and extremely unpleasant to look at, especially so that people do 
not like to look at you: ▪ Delia was frightened of the operation, because afterwards she knew she would 
look repulsive.repulsive to▪ The patient’s disease was so terrible that his own skin was repulsive to him. 
grotesque /grəʊˈtesk/ [adjective] extremely ugly in a strange or unnatural way: ▪ The boy was twisting one 
side of his face in grotesque imitation of his grandfather.▪ Suddenly the grotesque figure of the hunchback 
Quasimodo loomed out of the darkness. 
grotesquely [adverb] ▪ Jacob lay on the bed with his mouth open. His face was purple and grotesquely 
swollen. 
unsightly /ʌnˈsaɪtli/ [adjective usually before noun] an unsightly spot, mark, hair on your face etc is very 
unattractive: unsightly scar/fat/mark/spot/hair, etc.▪ The accident left Simon with unsightly scars.▪ 
Electrolysis gets rid of unsightly facial hair. 
He’s/she’s no oil-painting British /she’s no Miss America American /hiːz, ʃiːz nəʊ ˈɔɪl peɪntɪŋ, ʃiːz nəʊ 
mɪs əˈmerɪkə/ informal use this as a humorous way of saying that someone is ugly: ▪ ‘What’s Anna’s new 
boyfriend like?’ ‘Well, he’s nice, but he’s no oil painting.’ 
 Ngân Phương Vy ~ July 31st, 2014 UGLY 3 
2. not good-looking 
not very good-looking /nɒt veri ˌgʊd ˈlʊkɪŋ/ [adjective phrase] not nice to look at - use this as a less direct 
way of saying someone is unattractive: ▪ He’s a nice guy, but not very good-looking. 
unattractive/not attractive /ˌʌnəˈtræktɪv◂, nɒt əˈtræktɪv/ [adjective] not nice to look at and not sexually 
attractive in a physical way: ▪ Like many teenage girls, she was worried that she was unattractive.▪ He 
wasn’t a particularly attractive man, but there was something about him that women liked. 
find somebody unattractive think that someone is unattractive▪ She was crazy about Carl, and couldn’t 
understand why we found him unattractive. 
plain /pleɪn/ [adjective] someone who is plain, especially a woman, is not ugly but is not at all good-
looking: ▪ Catherine, who had been rather plain as a child, was now an attractive young woman.▪ Miles was 
the plain one in an otherwise good-looking family. 
homely /ˈhəʊmli/ [adjective] American someone who is homely is not at all good-looking: ▪ The waitress 
was a homely girl from Kansas.▪ Brad was a serious boy, very ordinary-looking but not downright homely. 
not much to look at /nɒt ˌmʌtʃ tə ˈlʊk æt/ [adjective phrase] if you say that someone is not much to look 
at, you mean that they are not good-looking, especially when other things about them are attractive: ▪ 
Edward’s not much to look at, but he has a great personality. 
3. object/building, etc. 
ugly /ˈʌgli/ [adjective] very unpleasant to look at: ▪ Local residents think that the new shopping centre is 
one of the ugliest buildings in the city.▪ The room was bare except for a few pieces of ugly furniture. 
unsightly /ʌnˈsaɪtli/ [adjective] something that is unsightly is unpleasant to look at, and spoils the 
appearance of the things around it: ▪ Bushes and plants make the perfect screen for unsightly objects such 
as dustbins.▪ Tight bras and knickers can cause unsightly bulges under close-fitting clothes. 
unattractive /ˌʌnəˈtræktɪv◂/ [adjective] not at all pleasant to look at: ▪ The town is surrounded by large, 
unattractive housing estates that nobody wants to live in.▪ Wearing an unattractive blouse and old-fashioned 
skirt, Lisa looked older than she was. 
hideous /ˈhɪdiəs/ [adjective] extremely ugly: ▪ One of our wedding presents was a hideous clock.▪ Emma 
was wearing an absolutely hideous purple and orange dress. 
revolting /rɪˈvəʊltɪŋ/ [adjective] something that is revolting is so ugly that you do not like to look at it: ▪ 
Remember that three piece suite Mrs Killeen had? It was grey and mustard. It was absolutely revolting!▪ 
Who’s that TV presenter who always wears those revolting sweaters? 
monstrosity /mɒnˈstrɒsɪti, mɒnˈstrɒsətiǁmɑːnˈstrɑː-/ [countable noun] a very large ugly building or object: 
▪ I rented a Spanish-style monstrosity in Beverly Hills while my apartment was redecorated.▪ This building 
is another monstrosity celebrated as a brilliant piece of architecture. 
an eyesore /ən ˈaɪsɔːʳ/ [singular noun] a large and very ugly building that you cannot avoid seeing: ▪ They 
built a huge office block right next to the old cathedral - what an eyesore!▪ Intended to be the world’s 
largest casino, it now stands as an eyesore near the big tourist and convention hotels of New Orleans. 
blot on the landscape /ˌblɒt ɒn ðə ˈlændskeɪpǁˌblɑːt-/ [noun phrase] British something that spoils the view, 
especially an ugly building: ▪ The container site at North Farm is a real blot on the landscape. 
 Ngân Phương Vy ~ July 31st, 2014 UGLY 4