Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One that is considered ugly or unpromising at first but has the potential to become beautiful or admirable in maturity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A young person who is
ugly , but who is expected to becomebeautiful as theymature .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an ugly or unpromising child who grows into a beautiful or worthy person
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[After The Ugly Duckling, a story by Hans Christian Andersen.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From a fairy tale of a duckling, considered ugly, that matures into a magnificent swan.
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Examples
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