0 someone or something that is ugly and not successful when young or new but will later become beautiful or successful
Sympatric speciation in animals : the ugly duckling grows up.
I am not sure whether it makes the arrangement for limitation change from an ugly duckling into a swan, but there is certainly some improvement.
We also hear a good deal about agriculture, the ugly duckling of politics.
That, of course, brings me to the ugly duckling of the sector—coal-fired generation.
Did ever an ugly duckling turn into such a swan?
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, transport, despite its vast overall cost to the nation, has long been regarded as a sort of ugly duckling.
Many an ugly duckling in the arts has become a glorious swan, but no one is helped if the pond of financial support is frozen over.
The magazine also features fashion tips and in-depth celebrity ugly duckling interviews.
