ugliness

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English ugly Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English ugliness From ugly + -ness.

1. The condition of being ugly.

   “His best friend would not have called him good-looking, but he was the fortunate possessor of that cheerful type of ugliness which inspires immediate confidence in its owner.”

   “Everything that's realistic has some sort of ugliness in it. Even a flower is ugly when it wilts, a bird when it seeks its prey, the ocean when it becomes violent. Sharon Tate”

2. An unsightly or frightful object.

   “Then she wrote back to me, responding to everything I wrote but this reference to love and sex […] A week or so went by, and she called. She was worried about me, wanted me to be careful, wanted to be happy, but she said that she had ignored that "ugliness" in my letter.”

3. Unpleasant behaviour.

   “There was some ugliness at the council meeting.”