eyesore

English

Alternative forms

• eye-sore

Etymology

From Middle English eye sor, eie-sor, eyen soore, eæge-sare, equivalent to eye +‎ sore.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsɔː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsɔɹ/, enPR: īʹsôr
• Rhymes: -aɪsɔː(ɹ)

Noun

eyesore (plural eyesores)

1. An eye lesion.
2. A displeasing sight; something prominently ugly or unsightly.

   Antonyms: feast for the eyes, eye candy

   The building, towering over its surroundings with its square concrete frame and reflective walls of gold-tinted glass, was an eyesore visible throughout the city.

   • 2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Network Rail Community Award: Saltash and Stow”, in RAIL, number 946, page 58:

     Two entrants shared this award for their work on two quite different stations, but with the same purpose of bringing a redundant station building back into use for the benefit of the community, with the added result of conserving an historic building. Saltash Town Council bought Saltash station building after it had become very decrepit and 'an eyesore' - such that it was nearly pulled down to make way for housing.

Related terms

• earsore
• nosesore

Translations

a displeasing sight

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 篤口篤鼻 / 笃口笃鼻 (duk¹ hau² duk¹ bei⁶), 篤眼篤鼻 / 笃眼笃鼻 (duk¹ ngaan⁵ duk¹ bei⁶), 眼冤 (ngaan⁵ jyun¹)

  Mandarin: 眼中釘 / 眼中钉 (zh) (yǎnzhōngdīng); 肉中刺，眼中釘 / 肉中刺，眼中钉 (ròuzhōngcì, yǎnzhōngdīng); 有礙觀瞻 / 有碍观瞻 (yǒu'àiguānzhān)

• Danish: øjebæ c (building)
• Finnish: rumilus (fi)
• French: horreur (fr) f
• Galician: cordobello m, calandraca f
• German: Schandfleck (de) m
• Hebrew: מַחֲזֶה לֹא נָעִים f (makhazé lo na'ím)
• Hungarian: csúfság (hu), (to be an eyesore) bántja a szemet, éktelenkedik (hu)
• Italian: pugno in un occhio m, obbrobrio (it) m
• Japanese: 目障り (ja) (mezawari)
• Korean: 눈엣가시 (nunetgasi)
• Latin: rēs odiōsa f
• Macedonian: очобол m (očobol)
• Polish: brzydactwo n, paskudztwo (pl) n, szkarada (pl) f, szkaradzieństwo (pl) n
• Romanian: oroare vizuală f, dezgust vizual n
• Russian: уро́дство (ru) n (uródstvo)
• Spanish: esperpento m
• Swedish: skamfläck (sv) c, schabrak (sv) n
• Tagalog: sulyak
• Thai: ทัศนะอุจาด (tát-sà-ná ù-jàat)
• Vietnamese: điều ngứa mắt, điều chướng mắt

Anagrams

• Eeyores