Hideous vs Homely - What's the difference?
hideous | homely |
Frightful; shocking; extremely ugly.
Distressing or offensive to the ear; horrible.
* 1719 ,
Hateful; shocking.
(dated) Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.
* 1958 , , Lolita , Chapter 15
(archaic) Characteristic of or belonging to home; domestic.
On intimate or friendly terms with (someone); familiar; at home (with a person); intimate.
* 1563 , , Chapter on William Thorpe
Domestic; tame.
Personal; private.
Friendly; kind; gracious; cordial.
(archaic) Simple; plain; familiar; unelaborate; unadorned.
* 1731 , , Strephon and Chloe, Lines 211-212
* 2001 , Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-78512-X), page 167,
As adjectives the difference between hideous and homely
is that hideous is frightful; shocking; extremely ugly while homely is (dated) lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.hideous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- A piteous and hideous spectacle." .
- He started up, growling at first, but finding his leg broken, fell down again; and then got upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard.
- Sure, you have some hideous matter to deliver. -
Usage notes
* Nouns to which "hideous" is often applied: monster, creature, man, face, thing, crime, form, death, aspect, spectacle, picture, roar, sound, manner, way, disease, mistake, shape, dress, fact, act, smile.Synonyms
* frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly, grotesque, horrid, dreadful, terribleDerived terms
* hideosity * hideously * hideousnesshomely
English
Alternative forms
* (l) (Scotland)Adjective
(en-adj)- There is none so homely but loves a looking-glass.
- You see, she'' sees herself as a starlet; ''I see her as a sturdy, healthy but decidedly homely kid.
- With all these men I was right homely , and communed with them long and oft.
- Now Strephon daily entertains / His Chloe in the homeliest strains.
- There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.