How to Use ugly in a Sentence

ugly

1 of 2 adjective

• They avoided what could have been an ugly situation.
• He has an ugly disposition.
• This means taking a cold hard look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  — Alain Hunkins, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023
• His house was the vault of ugly memories: the fights, the squabbles, the taunts, the slurs.
  — Gregory M. Collins, National Review, 27 Dec. 2023
• This is where the game has the potential to get ugly for the Rams.
  — Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2024
• Our job is to tell every part of the story — the good, bad and the ugly.
  — Dan Fellner, The Arizona Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
• Make sure to use a lot of ribbon to achieve the true ugly sweater feel.
  — Maggie Gillette, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Dec. 2023
• There was a world where the clothes could have been ugly like big velcro stick-on clothes.
  — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 17 Dec. 2023
• Tight end Travis Kelce had an ugly drop on pass that could have gone for about 30 yards.
  — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2024
• The reaction from Reddit users has been ugly, to say the least.
  — Matt Weinberger, Fortune, 26 June 2023
• The good, bad, and ugly that dot all of our paths, whether paved with dirt or not, is filled with all sort of detours.
  — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 3 Nov. 2023
• The cohesion showed as Irvine shook off an ugly first half to start the second on a 7-0 run.
  — Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023
• The Aztecs made the game ugly, beat the Tide to the floor on loose balls and benefited from a pair of fouls on Brandon Miller.
  — Nick Alvarez | [e-mail], al, 24 Mar. 2023
• This can result in blunt plans that to many seem downright ugly.
  — Bill Kearney, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2024
• It’s been a lot of ugly years and some grindy situations.
  — Alex Speier, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Sep. 2023
• So, everyone waited for pride to rear its ugly head and the Writers Guild to snap back.
  — Anonymous, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Sep. 2023
• In that same year, the ongoing problem reared its ugly head.
  — Torie Bosch, STAT, 17 Feb. 2024
• This week, Vogue spoke to five Burning Man attendees about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the muddy of this year’s festival.
  — Emma Specter, Vogue, 7 Sep. 2023
• Even the mansion where Two Js lives feels like an ugly Airbnb the studio rented out for a weekend.
  — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 8 Mar. 2024
• Stories about the truth, good, bad and ugly — and Elle tells those stories in such a beautiful way ...
  — Jeff Nelson, Peoplemag, 1 Feb. 2023
• Of course, looks do matter in a fly rod, and there’s no getting around it: The Helios 3 Blackout is ugly.
  — Ryan Chelius, Field & Stream, 3 Aug. 2023
• After an ugly third quarter, banks rolled out plans last week to try to shrink themselves back to health.
  — Gina Heeb, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2023
• George shows good, bad and ugly George had three turnovers in just three minutes to start Saturday’s game.
  — Michael Haag, Dallas News, 18 Feb. 2023
• The world hasn’t forgotten the movie that somehow made Idris Elba look ugly.
  — Meghana Indurti, The New Yorker, 11 Jan. 2024
• Parker does well as Doris, the hardly ugly but uncertain duckling that takes a seat in the back row in class and stays mum.
  — Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 25 Jan. 2024
• The ugly sweater contest is at 7 p.m. Enjoy a game truck, food trucks, bounce house, arts and crafts, rock climbing and live music.
  — The San Diego Union-Tribune Staff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Nov. 2023
• Inevitably, usually as soon as the first games of a tournament tip off, things will start to get ugly.
  — Andrew Keh, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2023
• Well, Wednesday morning was ugly for the Bears offense.
  — Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 2 Aug. 2023
• The ugly matters also hits at a time of celebration of women’s sports.
  — Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 4 Apr. 2024
• Things take an ugly turn when the fake cops inadvertently run over and kill an Arab man, triggering a firestorm amongst locals.
  — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024

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ugly

2 of 2 adverb

• But as the beer flowed and hours passed by, some of the scenes turned ugly.
  — Washington Post, 11 July 2021
• As ugly as the win was, all of the Bengals’ goals are still in front of them.
  — Charlie Goldsmith, The Enquirer, 24 Dec. 2022
• The book on the Tigers this season is to make the game as ugly as possible, and then hope for the best.
  — Joseph Goodman | [e-mail], al, 16 Jan. 2020
• Playing ugly is Auburn’s game this season, and the Tigers were there at the end against the No.2-team in the country.
  — Joseph Goodman | [e-mail], al, 5 Feb. 2023
• This one might not get as ugly as some of the past Bears-Packers prime-time games have.
  — Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 28 Nov. 2020
• And women are forced to play ugly to survive in that kind of world and with those kinds of men.
  — Henry Chandonnet, Peoplemag, 8 Aug. 2023
• The Chiefs played ugly last week, giving up 28 points to Denver.
  — Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2022
• As ugly as their record is, the Chargers are better than most 2-7 clubs.
  — Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 17 Nov. 2020
• Love them or hate them, there's no denying that the ugly-cute rubber clogs are back in a big way.
  — Amanda Tarlton, USA TODAY, 29 Sep. 2020
• Also, don’t feel bad pulling out live plants that look ugly and putting them in the compost pile.
  — Marni Jameson, orlandosentinel.com, 19 Mar. 2021
• Both teams played ugly in the first half, each shooting below 40% with 11 turnovers.
  — Nick Suss, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2022
• The encounter soon turned ugly, in Ms. Williams’s account.
  — New York Times, 15 June 2021
• Many critics said the drawings made the children look ugly, with wide-set, droopy eyes.
  — New York Times, 31 May 2022
• What matters most is whether Cronin is the right choice for the Ducks, who are at a crucial point of a messy and sometimes ugly rebuild.
  — Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2023
• Even though the many protests in L.A. have been peaceful for more than a week, there’s still clearly some fear out there that things might turn ugly.
  — Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2020
• This hang nail of a human kissed the ass of a bully who called his wife ugly and accused his dad of murder!
  — Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 25 May 2021
• If not, or if the replacements don’t step up, life could get ugly quickly for Harsin.
  — Nubyjas Wilborn | [e-mail], al, 18 July 2022
• But then again, almost from the moment the Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, things started turning ugly.
  — Dallas News, 8 Sep. 2022
• The withdrawal may also turn ugly and that the old threats may resurface.
  — Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
• Saban likes to say that there’s nothing worse for a team than losing ugly.
  — Joseph Goodman | [e-mail], al, 15 Oct. 2020
• Just ugly all the way around; even a chunk of the total homer crowd that haunts Suns Twitter during games seemed to tune out early.
  — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2022
• So things may look ugly at times, but this is the type of game in which superior talent gets you a win.
  — Stephen Means, cleveland, 25 Nov. 2020
• But if Arizona has trouble moving the ball, things could get ugly fast.
  — Bob McManaman, The Arizona Republic, 9 Sep. 2021
• And that’s when things turned ugly. Patrick Beverley walked past Paul on the way to the bench, but then stopped, turned and walked up to Paul and pushed him hard from behind.
  — Andy Nesbitt, USA TODAY, 1 July 2021
• Georgia now gets set for rival Florida, in a grudge match that could turn ugly for the Gators.
  — Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2021
• The protests started peacefully during the day, but once night fell, the scene again turned ugly, with tear gas and 307 more arrests.
  — Keith Bierygolick, Cincinnati.com, 1 June 2020
• But Chris Beard teams have a way of making their opponents win ugly.
  — Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2022
• The series could look ugly at times and scoring will be a premium, and the Warriors have more of that than Boston.
  — USA TODAY, 1 June 2022
• Grabbing a seat at the bar becomes ugly-competitive as the night wears on.
  — Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2022
• But the Galaxy have scored just three goals of its own over that span, leading to criticism the team is winning ugly.
  — Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2022

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024