ugly American

• Ugly American

• From the novel The Ugly American (1958) by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick.

ugly American (plural ugly Americans)

1. (idiomatic) An American government representative, diplomat, tourist, or businessperson who, in dealing with people of other nations, is haughty, rude, meddlesome, or jingoistic.
   • 1999 January 17, Maureen Dowd, "Liberties: Soft-Porn Nation," New York Times (retrieved 17 July 2017):

     The Republican House managers were acting like ugly Americans abroad who think that if they talk loudly and slowly, foreigners will understand them.

   • 2010 April 8, Linda Barnard, "The Eclipse: Ghosts among the living" (film review), The Star (Canada) (retrieved 17 July 2017):

     Quinn throws himself into the role of the vain, heavy-drinking bully with gusto. . . . He's precisely the kind of ugly American people cringe upon meeting—loud, demanding and arrogant, a bottle of Scotch never far from his elbow.

   • 2011 May 2, Rupert Cornwell, "America must end its 9/11 mindset," Independent (UK) (retrieved 17 July 2017):

     The US . . . turned into an overweening global bully . . . . In the persons of Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the Ugly American was back.

   • 2017 June 2, Dana Milbank, "Trump, the caricature of the ugly American, demeans us all," Washington Post (retrieved 17 July 2017):

     For the last fortnight, Trump has presented himself to the world as the caricature of the ugly American: loud, boorish and ill-informed.