Definition of ugly duckling
: one that appears very unpromising but often has great potential
- Trending Now: More Trending:
- asylum insubordinate promulgate epochal clemency
- ALL
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
Examples of ugly duckling in a Sentence
The house is an ugly duckling, but it has a lot of potential.
Recent Examples of ugly duckling from the Web
-
Maybe there is a happy ending in store for this ugly duckling hue, after all.
-
Did his school chums not know about the whole ugly duckling phenomenon?
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ugly duckling.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of ugly duckling
The Ugly Duckling, story by Hans Christian Andersen
UGLY DUCKLING Defined for English Language Learners
ugly duckling
Definition of ugly duckling for English Language Learners
-
: a person or thing that is not attractive or successful but that is likely to become attractive or successful in the future
Learn More about ugly duckling
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up ugly duckling? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
