Unlovely
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An unattractive or ugly thing or person.
"1982, United Press International, "Clearly, an ugly dog", 2 August. A hairless runt of a mutt named Chi-chi defeated them all in the 13th annual Ugliest Dog in the World contest: such unlovelies as the moth-eaten chow and the bulldog with a bad eye."
- 1 unattractive, ugly
"[…] an ocean of dereliction, blackened tenements, public drunkenness, dozens of unlovely skyscrapers, featureless housing schemes. It was as if this was all that Glasgow deserved. And yet the city still had a lot of bazazz."
- 1 without beauty or charm wordnet
Example
More examples"She had looked on so many unlovely places in her life, poor child; but this was as lovely as anything she had ever dreamed."
Etymology
From Middle English unlovely, onlovely, unlovelich, equivalent to un- + lovely.
More for "unlovely"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.