ugly duckling

See synonyms for ugly duckling on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an unattractive or unpromising child who becomes a beautiful or much-admired adult.

Origin of ugly duckling

1
First recorded in 1880–85; after the bird in the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ugly duckling in a sentence

  • You all know the story of the “ugly duckling,” and how, after all, it became a beautiful white swan.

    Our Frank | Amy Walton
  • In the family nest he is the ugly duckling; in the world he is persecuted.

    The Modern Malady | Cyril Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for ugly duckling

ugly duckling

noun
  1. a person or thing, initially ugly or unpromising, that changes into something beautiful or admirable

Origin of ugly duckling

1
an allusion to The Ugly Duckling, a story by Hans Christian Andersen

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with ugly duckling

ugly duckling

A homely or unpromising individual who grows into an attractive or talented person, as in She was the family ugly duckling but blossomed in her twenties. This term alludes to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale about a cygnet hatched with ducklings that is despised for its clumsiness until it grows up into a beautiful swan. The tale was first translated into English in 1846, and the term was used figuratively by 1871.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.