ugly duckling
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Edith saw herself as the ugly duckling but excelled in ballet.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
"It is an incredibly difficult thing to go from turning that person from an ugly duckling into a swan."
From BBC • Jul. 18, 2024
The bewitchingly fragrant fruit — a relative of apples and pears — does go through an ugly duckling phase, Walden acknowledges.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 31, 2023
Despite being regarded as an ugly duckling by the foreign policy establishment, USIA-led public diplomacy efforts played a key role in achieving several important foreign policy objectives.
From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2023
It was like the makeover scenes in my American movies, where they take the dorky guy or girl, fix the hair and change the clothes, and the ugly duckling becomes the swan.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
