homely

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“
On the piazza steps sat Bobby--homely, unattractive Bobby, crying Why, my dear!"

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Not attractive or good-looking: a homely child.
  2. adjective Lacking elegance or refinement: homely furniture.
  3. adjective Of a simple or unpretentious nature; plain: homely truths.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Rooms are very homely, ambience is very, very relaxed indeed - you can go into the kitchen and make … —  British Blogs
  • Nora is billed here as a homely, insecure loser with a mad crush on Nick. —  NewsBlaze.com Current News - Top Stories
  • - ROTY over She's all that because SAT's foundation of an ugly duckling (aka the homely hot girl) is a very John Hughes-y 80s plot device. —  Best Week Ever
  • On the piazza steps sat Bobby--homely, unattractive Bobby, crying Why, my dear!" —  The Tangled Threads
  • It's more familiar-like and--homely, and I know you will excuse me, Miss Jill, if I say that I can't get used to you in those clothes, pretty as they are and becoming to you. —  The Hawk of Egypt
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

pleasant ·  quaint ·  ugly ·  manly ·  humble ·  lively ·  vulgar ·  practical
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely, domestic, familiar, plain (= OFries. hēmelik = Dutch heimelijk, secret, private, = Old High German heimilih, Middle High German heimelich, German heimlich, secret, = Icelandic heimligr, worldly, = Swedish hemlig = Danish hemmelig, private, secret); from home + -ly.
  2. from Middle English homely, homly, hoomly, etc.; from homely, adjective
 

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/ˈhoʊmli/
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