To think 'not conventionally attractive' means ugly?

I agree with this

Ellen Barkin, attractive and unusual but not pretty

I don't think it automatically equates to ugly but I would 100% find this offensive and I would never say this to someone! Simply because it can be taken the wrong way. I'm always offended when someone tells me I look tired, that does equate to "you look like shit" in my books 🤣

Someone has a very striking - and certainly not displeasing appearance. But not … conventionally attractive.

I wouldn't take it to mean so.

In my head conventionally attractive would be Megan Fox/Natalie Portman and unconventionally attractive would be Millie Bobby Brown/Scarlett Johansson.

I guess it might have different meanings for everyone.

Conventionally attractive - Audrey Hepburn
Unconventionally attractive - Lady Gaga

Like PP, I would use this as a compliment – someone I think is attractive but in a much more interesting / unusual way.

I would take it to mean "striking" as in perhaps strong features or a bit punky. I would say "not conventially attractive" still means attractive, just not in the conventional, cookie-cutter version of beauty that you see in Hollywood or in magazines.

I remember my mum using it about someone whose face she liked but who admittedly wasn't the model type. I wouldn't take it as a simple 'this person is ugly'.

There's an old quote: There is no beauty that does not have some strangeness to it.

Strangeness is what separates beauty from prettiness, and makes it memorable. 'Pretty' doesn't require strangeness, so it's a bit bland. How many pretty TV actors are there with nice even features who are entirely forgettable compared to 'unconventionally attractive' features of the gorgeous Anna Taylor Joy or the stunning Cate Blanchett?

People described as 'Unconventionally attractive' are rarely called pretty or handsome, but often called stunning, striking or beautiful. And attractive is in the term!

Remember, you are the most beautiful person in the world to your baby 😄

edit for clarity.

I think that's the point though they are attractive, they're very good looking but not in an average way they have unusual or standout features that take them away from being classically pretty but end up being better looking for it.

I take girl next door to mean pretty but in a natural normal way like someone you might know rather than hollywood glam. I think it's a compliment.

I'd describe someone as not conventionally attractive in a good way, like it's better to have quirks and differences.

YANBU to think "not conventionally attractive" is a polite(ish) way of calling someone ugly, but there's more nuance to it. Some people are physically ugly (by objectively applying the standards of what the current climate designates as attractive) but attractive people (the "she's got a great personality" type).

I think there needs to be a similar term where the opposite is true, someone is "conventionally attractive" but a hideously unattractive person.

No. It means exactly what it says - having an appearance that doesn't conform to the conventions and stereotypes for what is considered generically attractive in our society. This applies to some extremely beautiful and unique looking people.

I suppose it is down to you to realise their meaning by the way it was delivered. (Bloody rude to say to a person either way)

I can't image a conversation where this would be said directly to someone's face TBH - in same room as an aside to someone else or behind someone back possibly when talking about them and it getting back to OP is easier to see how that would happen.

If it did come out to someone face I image person saying it would be putting it in context rapidly - that it wasn't an insult.

yes Barry Keoghan, I like the unusual lookers

I suppose it is down to you to realise their meaning by the way it was delivered. (Bloody rude to say to a person either way)

I don't think Barry Keoghan or James McAvoy would be considered conventionally attractive but I think they are both sexy.

They are all stunning, just not in the nails extensions and eyelashes standers of beauty that the media presents

This

I always thought it meant unusual looking but hot. I don't think I'd want to spend time with people though who were randomly (in private or public) calling people ugly, wtf.

You're saying all of these are not conventionally attractive? Really?!

Jennifer and Vicky for starters are both stunning! Billie is pretty too. Nicola Walker maybe not quite so 'conventionally attractive.' Disagree about the other 3 though.

I'd say Anya Taylor Joy is not conventionally attractive, in that her features aren't placed in a perfectly doll like way. But she is very attractive none the less.

'Not attractive' would mean 'ugly'. 'Not conventionally attractive' means 'attractive but in a non-conventional way'. People can be attractive, striking, sexy, charismatic etc without conforming to the usual notions of what's pretty.

For example, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Paul Newman and Henry Cavill are/were 'conventionally attractive' men. They are objectively handsome with even features and proportions. You wouldn't have to fancy them to agree that, objectively, they meet the definition of being good-looking. But Adrien Brody, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Rickman and Jeff Goldblum are all in the 'not conventionally attractive' bracket. They don't have perfectly proportioned, flawless features, but millions of women fancy them because there's something interesting, striking or charismatic about them and their faces.

Similarly, Angelina Jolie, Margot Robbie, Marilyn Monroe and Jennifer Lopez are 'conventionally attractive' women. Shelley Duvall, Bette Davis, Grace Jones and Angelica Houston are 'not conventionally attractive'.

Think Billie Piper, Jennifer Garner or perhaps Nicola Walker or Vicky McClure

Queen Elizabeth I was described as 'comely', which I'd say is much the same thing.