Meaning & use
fugly
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Meaning
adjectivecomparableslangvulgaroffensive
A crude slang word meaning extremely ugly, often used insultingly about a person's appearance or about a thing.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a fugly sweater, or that sweater is fugly.
Patterns
- look fugly
- a fugly outfit
She called the old couch fugly and wanted to replace it.
That neon wallpaper is fugly, and everyone knows it.
Teens use fugly to joke about clashing outfits, though it can hurt when aimed at a person.
Word forms
| comparative | fuglier |
|---|---|
| superlative | fugliest |
Common combinations
- look fugly
- The room looks fugly with that paint color.
- totally fugly
- The costume was totally fugly.
- a fugly outfit
- He wore a fugly outfit as a joke.
- call something fugly
- Don't call my art fugly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hideous
- Hideous is a standard word for very ugly and is acceptable in many settings, while fugly is crude slang.
- ugly
- Ugly is the plain, general word, and fugly is a harsher, more insulting version of it.
- grotesque
- Grotesque suggests strange, distorted ugliness and is more formal.
- unsightly
- Unsightly is polite and mild, so it is good where fugly would be rude.
Opposites
Word family
- ugly adjective
- the base word, not pleasant to look at
- uglier adjective
- comparative of ugly
- ugliness noun
- the quality of being ugly
Commonly confused: fugly or fussy?
fugly vs fussy
Fussy means overly particular, and it is only similar in sound to fugly.
Practice
Which word is the most polite way to say that a lamp is not nice to look at?
Choose one answer.
Unattractive is mild and polite. Fugly is crude slang, and hideous and grotesque are far stronger.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fugly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.