Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to language, it is strange that some beautiful words have meanings that are… well… a bit ugly. Read on to find some words that sound very beautiful but stand for ugly, embarrassing, sad or unpleasant things that you might just like to know.
The following beautiful words all have a lovely sound.
So much so that you would think they had beautiful meanings, too. Unfortunately, this is not the case. But there is something rather nice about a beautiful word even if its meaning is less than lovely. After all, we all experience situations and emotions that are sad or upsetting and at least now, we might have a beautiful word to describe how we are feeling.
Read on to find the perfect word to describe how you feel on a bad day, or in bad company!
1. Lacuna
A gap or missing part, for example, a missing section of a manuscript or a gap in an argument.
2. Eccedentesiast
A person who fakes a smile. It is often used to describe celebrities who have to smile for the camera no matter how they are feeling inside.
3. Lassitude
Fatigue and lack of energy. A weariness of body or mind.
4. Kuidaore
A Japanese word literally meaning: “to ruin oneself by extravagance in food” or in other words to eat yourself into bankruptcy!
5. Schwellenangst
From the German Schwelle (“threshold”) + Angst (“anxiety”). A fear or aversion to entering a place or crossing a threshold to embark on something new.
6. Dystopian
A hellish society characterized by human misery and problems including brutality, oppression, disease, hunger, etc.
2. Hiraeth
A Welsh word meaning a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return; a home which maybe never was. Nostalgia, yearning, and grief, for the lost places of your past or a sense of home.
8. Amorphous
Lacking a definite form, being shapeless like a thick fog.
9. Beguile
To influence by trickery or flattery or to mislead or delude.
10. Inexorable
Relentless, unyielding, unmoveable, unalterable and not to be persuaded.
11. Visceral
Dealing with crude or elemental emotions.
12. Hirsute
Hairy or shaggy.
13. Curare
A blackish, resin-like substance used by certain Indigenous South Americans for poisoning arrows. It stops the motor nerves working effectively.
14. Imbroglio
A complicated or difficult situation. An embarrassing situation or a misunderstanding of a complicated or bitter nature between people.
15. Absquatulate
To leave without saying goodbye or without permission. To abscond.
16. Ubiquitous
Found everywhere. This is not actually a negative word, but it seems to have lately acquired negative connotations and imply commonplace and without uniqueness or value.
17. Knell
The sound made by a bell rung slowly, especially for a death or funeral. Also a mournful sound in general, or a warning sound.
18. Languid
Lacking in spirit or vigour, listless, indifferent.
19. Tartle
This is a Scottish word which means to hesitate while introducing someone because you have forgotten their name.
20. Contumacious
Perverse, stubborn, obstinate, rebellious or willfully disobedient.
21. Hydra
This word comes from the water serpent in Classical Mythology of the same name, whose heads regrew as they were cut off. This word means a persistent, many-sided problem that is difficult to solve.
22. Toska
A Russian word that can be roughly translated as sadness or melancholia.
23. Desiderium
An ardent longing or desire, often for something lost.
24. Hikikomori
This Japanese word means “pulling inward, being confined” and is often used to describe social withdrawal. Hikikomori is a perfect word to describe when a young person becomes obsessed with video games and withdraws from society.
25. Woebegone
Exhibiting great sorrow, or misery.
26. Pusillanimousstar
Cowardly, faint-hearted, fearful or timid. Lacking in courage.
27. Saturnine
This comes from the Latin Saturnus and refers to the planet Saturn which was supposed to have a gloomy influence over people. It means having a gloomy or surly disposition.
28. Languishing
This was a favorite of Victorian romantic novelists where heroines would often let out a languishing sigh because of unfair treatment. It means tender, sentimental, melancholy.
29. Unrequited
Not returned, as in unrequited love. Also an unrequited wrong as in when you have not avenged yourself against someone who has done something bad to you.
30. Taciturn
Inclined to silence, not conversing readily, unsociable.
31. Estrange
To break contact, remove or keep at a distance from someone. To remove affection or attention from someone, or to behave in an unfriendly or hostile manner towards someone you previously liked or loved.
32. Morose
Sullen and ill-humored or pessimistic.
33. Deluge
Heavy, drenching rain or a great flood. Can be used to describe anything that overwhelms such as ‘a deluge of information‘.
34. Pettifog
To bicker about unimportant issues. To be petty.
35. Chicanery
To use subterfuge to trick or deceive.
Closing thoughts
Of course, words that seem beautiful to me might sound ugly to you and in the end, it is just personal preference. But I hope you can use some of these words and that they might make you feel a bit better about some of the ugly things in life. We’d love to hear your beautiful words for ugly things – or just beautiful words in general. Please share them with us in the comments below.
