homely
Syllables: home·ly/ˈhəʊmli/US/ˈhoʊmli/
homely adjective: characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.
Adjective
homely (comparative homelier or more homely, superlative homeliest or most homely)
- Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.
- An interesting illustration of this is the way in which the English flower names which were in use till very recently are being ousted by Greek ones, snapdragon becoming antirrhinum, forget-me-not becoming myosotis, etc. It is hard to see any practical reason for this change of fashion: it is...1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
- Other homely details in the stories — preparing a salad, diapering a baby1981 February 14, Collectively Written Feminist Stories, “Myma Greenfield”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 11
- Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.
- There is none so homely but loves a looking-glass.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
- "I can't send a young, pretty girl, or for that matter even a homely one if you'd have her, on a job like this without telling her what to expect."1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 6
- Antonyms:
- comely
- On intimate or friendly terms with (someone); familiar; at home (with a person); intimate.
- With all these men I was right homely, and communed with them long and oft.1563, John Foxe, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Chapter on William Thorpe
- Domestic; tame.
- Personal; private.
- Friendly; kind; gracious; cordial.
- Conservative and family-oriented.
- I am seeking a beautiful homely girl for marriage.
- Simple; plain; familiar; unelaborate; unadorned.
- a homely garment
- homely fare
homely meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
homely in Tamil
- பகட்டற்ற, வீட்டிற்கேற்ற
homely in Urdu
- گھریلو, جانا پہچانا, مالوف, سادہ
homely in Bengali
- সাধারণ, সাদাসিধা, ঘরোয়া, অনাড়ম্বর
homely in Malayalam
- ലളിതമായ, വീടിനെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, അനാർഭാടമായി, ഔപചാരികത്വമില്ലാതെ
More languagesFewer languages
- homely in Kannada
- ಸರಳ, ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ, ಸಾದಾ, ಸಾಧಾರಣ
- homely in Indonesian
- rumahan
- homely in Thai
- บ้านๆ
Examples of homely in a sentence
- It is hard to see any practical reason for this change of fashion: it is probably due to an instinctive turning-away from the more homely word and a vague feeling that the Greek word is scientific.1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language:
- Mowgli: "Oh, don't worry Chota, it may not be homely, but I can warm it up."2014 January 5, “Mowgli's Cub”, in The Jungle Book:
- You see, she sees herself as a starlet; I see her as a sturdy, healthy but decidedly homely kid.1958, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 15, in Lolita:
- There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 167:
Antonyms of homely
Forms of homely
| comparative | homelier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more homely |
| superlative | homeliest |
| superlative | most homely |
| alternative Scotland | hamely |
Origin of homely
From Middle English homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from Old English *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home + -ly. Cognate with Scots hamely (“familiar, personal, private”), West Frisian heimelik, Dutch heimelijk (“secret, secretive, clandestine”), German heimlich (“secret, secretive, clandestine, undercover”), Danish hemmelig (“secret”), Swedish hemlig (“secret, concealed, privy, covert”), Faroese heimligur (“homelike, homey”), Icelandic heimlegur (“homely; worldly”).
Words formed from homely
Questions about homely
- What does homely mean?
- Homely means characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy.
- What is homely in Tamil?
- Homely in Tamil is பகட்டற்ற, வீட்டிற்கேற்ற. See Homely meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use homely in a sentence?
- It is hard to see any practical reason for this change of fashion: it is probably due to an instinctive turning-away from the more homely word and a vague feeling that the Greek word is scientific.
- What part of speech is homely?
- Homely is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce homely?
- Homely is pronounced /ˈhəʊmli/ (UK).
Words near homely in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: homely (page history and authors); homely (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); homely (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Homely (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); homely (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); homely (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-homely.wav.
Cite this entry: “homely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/homely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.