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# homely

«homely» in Mova's school dictionary: **simple, warm and comfortable, like a cosy home** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (homely, homelier, homeliest)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (UK, Australia) Homely means simple, warm and comfortable, like a cosy home. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#m1)

2) (US, Canada) Homely means plain and not good-looking. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday British and Australian talk a homely café or room is cosy and welcoming. In American English calling someone homely is unkind. Phrases: a homely kitchen, a homely feel.

### examples

- The cottage had a homely feel with its fire and soft chairs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x1)
- Grandma cooks homely food like stew and pie. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x2)
- The guest house was small and homely. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x3)
- In the story, the homely farm girl turned out to be brave. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x4)
- We love the homely smell of baking bread. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x5)
- The hotel was not grand, but very homely. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x6)
- A cradle is such a nice homely thing to have about a house.” [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/#x7)

### note

Big trap between countries: in the UK it is praise (cosy); in the US it is a criticism of looks (plain). Do not mix up with "homey" or "homelike". Avoid calling a person homely.

### In the corpora

- ["Homely" in American English means plain or not pretty; in British English it means cosy and home-like.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «homely» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homely/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.