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Hideous vs Homely - What's the difference?

hideous | homely |

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)
  • Frightful; shocking; extremely ugly.
  • A piteous and hideous spectacle." .
  • Distressing or offensive to the ear; horrible.
  • * 1719 ,
  • 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.
  • Hateful; shocking.
  • 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, terrible

    Derived terms

    * hideosity * hideously * hideousness

    homely

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (Scotland)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • (dated) Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.
  • There is none so homely but loves a looking-glass.
  • * 1958 , , Lolita , Chapter 15
  • You see, she'' sees herself as a starlet; ''I see her as a sturdy, healthy but decidedly homely kid.
  • (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
  • With all these men I was right homely , and communed with them long and oft.
  • Domestic; tame.
  • Personal; private.
  • Friendly; kind; gracious; cordial.
  • (archaic) Simple; plain; familiar; unelaborate; unadorned.
  • * 1731 , , Strephon and Chloe, Lines 211-212
  • Now Strephon daily entertains / His Chloe in the homeliest strains.
  • * 2001 , Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-78512-X), page 167,
  • There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.

    Antonyms

    * comely