Thread: What's a better word for ugly in Russian?

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

They are both quite strong. The difference is, "уродливый" is reserved primarily for people, while "безобразный" is used in a much wider variety of contexts in the meaning of "awful" (still, not as often as other equivalents).
I would use некрасивый unless the appearance is really bad.

I can't agree. "Уродливый" is often applied to buildings, gardens, vehicles etc.

"безобразный" is a synonym, but unlike "уродливый" could be also applied to "immaterial" words (with the meaning 'very bad'): безобразная погода, безобразное поведение, etc

уродливый - more like deformed
безобразный - more like wrong, disordered, improper
мерзкий - more like disgusting, hideous