Homely vs Idiomatic - What's the difference?
homely | idiomatic | Related terms |
(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,
Pertaining or conforming to the mode of expression characteristic of a language.
Resembling or characteristic of an idiom.
Using many idioms.
(music) Parts or pieces which are written both within the natural physical limitations of the instrument and human body and, less so or less often, the styles of playing used on specific instruments.
Homely is a related term of idiomatic.
As adjectives the difference between homely and idiomatic
is that homely is (dated) lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive while idiomatic is pertaining or conforming to the mode of expression characteristic of a language.homely
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.
