Is 'Homely' Commonly Used in American English to Mean 'Unattractive'? Need Confirmation from Native Speakers!

Everyone in the comments saying it's not used much, but it's used OFTEN in midwestern rural communities. If you're in the city, you probably won't hear it. But, if you're in a small town, you'll hear it.

I grew up hearing this word in the Upper Midwest. It didn’t exactly mean ugly, but more like ‘plain’ or ‘not attractive.’ Other US English speakers who say that haven’t heard the word might live in a different region, because it’s common vocabulary where I’m from.

I think my grandmother really liked it because it allows one to sound less rude while still being quite judgmental, and so it's a word my family uses. It's familiar enough to me, a middle-aged American who now lives in the UK, that when I hear British people use it to mean "homey" it really throws me.

It's not common but just about everyone would know what it means. It's a little dated, IMO.

I think of homely as meaning “not attractive” but not ugly. Just sort of unremarkable. It could be used to mean ugly euphemistically, but that’s not the true meaning.

Homely is commonly used to mean plain or ordinary or even unattractive in American English. To be clear, it means something entirely different in British English. Apparently, meaning what Americans would use the word "homey" for. Comfortable, cozy, like home. (I was so confused when I ran into this meaning for the first time, on a British TV show.)

Not commonly used in conversation, but it does mean bland, or plain to the point of unattractive.

In the US at least, we know what this is, but we don't actually use it hardly at all. But yes, it means plain-looking, somewhere between average and ugly

Yes but it sounds old fashioned

It's very old fashioned. It would be correct, but sound odd.

I dont know what that means lol

I don’t know what all these other people are talking about. I’ve never/rarely heard homely as a word (I read quite a bit and am not anti-social). I live in an area where southern and general American mix, so maybe that’s why it’s uncommon in my area. I would say that it’s a safe bet that “homely” may not be understood by the entire US let alone the rest of the English speaking world.

It is a nice word in the UK. You would never call a person homely because homely describes a place that feels like home, comforting and cosy

It's a mild insult. We hear and understand it. More often, we just say that he has average looks. Context matters.

I'm in Ohio and have NEVER heard the word "homely."

Yes.

So the song “Homely Girl” by UB40 is about an average woman? Or does it not apply to British English( mixed with patua)?

I think all but school-age kids today will have heard it and understand it to mean less-than-average attractiveness. I'm sure kids would come across it in classical school reading assignments, such as *To Kill a Mockingbird*, *Animal Farm*, and *1984*, but those don't seem to happen much anymore, at least in public schools.

Homely feels like an antique term to me. I’d use it in a fantasy story but not in conversation.

Homely to me means something like bland, plain, or quaint. When used for a person, it doesn't directly imply ugly/unattractive, just unremarkable. It sounds like that's what's being implied in the text, honestly. I guess the difference is in whether you perceive unremarkable as the point between attractive and ugly or just a type of ugliness in and of itself.

It used to be. But I don't think it's a descriptor that has been much used in the United States any time in the last 40 years.

No. I have literally never heard someone use it in spoken English. It is common in literary usage, however.

In the US, yes, but isn't heard much

I recognize and might use "homely" exactly as described here. I don't find it particularly literary or uncommon, as some other native speakers here have indicated.

Homely is what you use when you don't want to say the word ugly out loud.

Nope, never heard it used that way! 😂

Never heard it used that way

I personally have never heard “homely” be used this way. It could be a dialect thing, but my guess is that it’s uncommon in other dialects as well.

Nope.

Yes, I’ve heard it a few times in spoken English. It’s not common, but people generally know what it means.

When I think homely I imagine someone in confortable clothing and no make up/hair not done. They are dressed to be at home and do chores around the house. So not ugly, but putting no effort into looking good. That being said, never heard this word used before.

I'm from the UK, and we don't use this word, but I've seen it used this way in American media. Grandpa Simpson calls Homer, "homely as a mules butt" - so maybe this is an old-fashioned word / usage?

I’ve only heard this in TV shows from the 1960s and prior.

It's not a part of my vocabulary, and I could see myself easily mistaking it for homey which is a positive adjective meaning pleasantly comfortable/cozy. I know I've heard homely before though so I looked into it, and homey in American English has the same sort of meaning as homely in British English (I'm not sure how common it is in British English, but how confusing is that?!).

I'd certainly be confused on what you meant.

It is used for that purpose, although rarely, because homely at this point means 2 things: plain. So unremarkable, eh. Or a polite way to say ugly. However, you'd never call someone homely to their face. It's not common today; I remember a situation in which a native English speaker used that to describe their ex-wife, thinking it meant 'normal', but felt horrible when his friends said they thought it meant 'ugly'.

It’s mostly used in old literature, not in everyday conversation.

I've never heard or seen the word used to refer to males. On the other hand, it used to be used to refer to females, but I believe it's out of date now.

Yep. Homely: not cute, pretty, or attractive because of a simple flaw. A step up from ugly. Homey- comfortable, cozy

This can be confusing depending on if you’re speaking British English or American English. In American English, homely does indeed imply ugly. In British English, it means cozy.

It was used much more frequently decades ago but yes that is what it means in the US. In UK and India it means good at house keeping.

I don't know if I would say commonly used, but it's understood to mean ugly, yes

I've never heard it used in conversation, only in books. It sounds very old-fashioned to my ears.

Published in The Hindu on August 29, 1995.

Homely is not a compliment.

It's a bit old-fashioned; I wouldn't expect anyone under 50 to use it, but I think most people would at least understand it. It's not like it's less offensive than just "ugly" though.

Homely is used to describe someone who isn’t attractive but it’s not really common unless you’re older. I’ve never seen someone below 40 use the term

It is not super common, but most native speakers would understand it and I agree it’s not super literary. Another common way to describe someone who is not super good-looking but is not hideously ugly is “plain,” which is also gender-neutral.

It’s very old fashioned, I only ever heard my great grandpa say it.

Homely is old. Only hear that in old books or games set in the past.

Yes. It means she’s kind of plain/unattractive but not flat out ugly. My mom says it all the time.

good

Homely explicitly means plain and unattractive. It isn't an "ugly witch with warts" ugly, but it is still a mean thing to say about someone. "The one sister was attractive and the other homely" would be to say something mean about the second sister.

Yeah

Yes, my grandma loves this word 😂

It's pretty archaic. You'll find it in contemporary writing from time to time but not really something one would use in conversation.

Using a thesaurus doesn't make insulting someone more polite.

In US English "homely" is plain/unattractive/dull and a rarer word. if you want the US version of the UK "homely" it would be "homey" if talking about a place (that a place makes you feel comfortable or 'at home')

It's not particularly common. But to be clear, when we use the word here in North America (as far as I know), we mean this definition exclusively. I was going to correct the phrasing of your question, which implies some other definition/usage, but thankfully I googled it first. Apparently it is used to mean cozy or unpretentious? That usage is foreign to my ears.

They aren’t particularly ugly or pretty but kind of plain. The girl next door almost. It could also be that they are homely. To describe a woman it could be that she wants to stay home and look after her family. In the context in your text it could be that Vijay wants to stay home with his family rather than go out and see the wider world but it could also be seen as a negative. Oh he’s homely. He doesn’t dream big or maybe he’s a mamma’s boy..:

Why are Indians using British spelling to teach one another how to speak American English?

Wow, I have actually never heard of homely being used in this context. This is a first for me because I’m very grammatically inclined due to me having read books for years and years. Uh well, if my being puzzled is any indicator it doesn’t seem to be common at all, at least not on the west coast ig.

I haven’t really heard it used like that outside of older books. Mostly I hear people use homely to refer to places or objects as cozy, rustic, or handmade

Homely can mean unattractive, but not quite ugly. Or not attractive, but inviting and pleasant (close in meaning to cozy). Or it can be a way to call something/someone ugly without saying ugly. Don't use this word with people who care for the subject you are discussing.

homely has a few different meanings, but usually something like "not that conventionally attractive". as others have pointed out, it can be a euphemism for 'ugly', but i've heard it just as much to refer to someone who's attractive *compared to* regular people, but not attractive in a way that'll get them in a magazine cover.

It's like kind of ugly, not hideous.

I know the meaning but I consider it very, very old-fashioned.

Yeah it's not common. It actually kinda means the same thing as "homey", but "homey" is the compliment and "homely" started to be more of an insult. They both mean "like a tiny cabin in the woods", but one is meant to imply it's cozy and warm, and the other means "dilapidated shack"

It's the word my grandma uses when she wants to politely say that someone/something isn't much to look at.

The term is commonly used. "Homely" is probably better understood to mean "plain" or "unremarkable". It's not ugly so much as an appearance that doesn't provoke any sort of feeling or response. Note that you say a person is "homely". When you say a thing is homely, it means "comfortable or familiar" (evoking the feeling of being at home). If you said a person had a homely face, it might be understood to mean that their face is plain looking, but it could also be understood to mean that something about it is comforting.

Idk, but Vijay is a homely name for a male! Or for a female, for that matter! 🤔😬

Yes. Homely is a soft way to call someone ugly.

a lot of responses about the actual definition, but i’m going to be dead honest, i’ve never heard the word homely to mean that in any way. my first thought when reading that, genuinely, was a mistyping of the word “homey” to mean like comfortable and safe like a home. the only other similar verbiage i’ve heard is “homeless” in saying someone doesn’t look put together, similar to how actual homeless people struggle to appear put together (just through unfortunate circumstances), but “homely” is not a word i thought existed

Yes. The reason why is interesting. Artistic paintings were frequently of palaces or gods or stuff like that. They were usually highly decorated and stylized. At some point, people started painting simple scenes of home life, and without all of the detail and decor of the palatial art. So "homely" paintings lacked excessive adornment. They were plain. "Plain" meant not decorated or adorned with stuff, and because of that, its meaning became "not pretty." Most English speakers know of this meaning because of a famous book we read in school called "Sarah, Plain and Tall" (or, 'Sarah, who was tall and not particularly pretty'). So instead of saying "not pretty," one might say "plain" because it's softer and might suggest that the person could be pretty if they just put on makeup or jewelry. But then "plain" became an insult, so it got softened into "homely," which sounded nicer but meant the same thing. Anyway, yes, homely means not pretty (although leaves open the possibility that this is because they are simply not dressed up at the moment).

American here. We use homely to mean ugly. It is strange because Brits use it to mean what we call homey (warm, comforting, etc.). The first time I heard a Brit use it, I was confused because I thought where we were was so homey, but it sounded like they were calling it ugly. When I asked them what they meant, they said comfy, warm, inviting, etc. (Exactly what I would have used homey to describe). 2 countries separated by a common language...for real!

I’ve never heard anyone call someone homely in my entire life.

>Is 'Homely' Commonly Used in American English No, no it's not. It's a relatively old fashioned word I've only ever seen it in books or (occasionally) being spoken by people of an older generation, as in folks who today are over 60 years old. I've never once in my life heard anyone of my generation (38) or younger use that word in conversation.

Homely means plain. It is used as a nicer way to say ugly, but that's not technically the meaning. It's a bit old fashioned and isn't used as much these days, but most people know and will understand the word.

We used to have a joke in the Southern states in the US. People would say, "She's one of the Lee sisters. You know, Home, and Ug?"

I guess this regional thing because I am American and I’ve never heard of using Homely to describe someone.

Common? No, I don't think so. It rings a little old-timey to me. But it should be decently known with that meaning. The opposite of comely. In this sense it would seem to refer to basically a completely unremarkable farmer's wife type of lady.

https://youtu.be/peM0PqMBZ0U

Imo, you could say "homely" to someone in the US, and they'll have no idea what that means. I've heard it used, but it's super uncommon for me