Dictionary

sore-thumbish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

sore thumb + -ish; after the phrase stick out like a sore thumb.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, informal) Distinct in a way that draws negative attention; out of place; conspicuous.
   • It looks so what-am-I-doing-here?, / so sore-thumbish, so entirely out of place, / among all these ancient ivy-covered buildings, / that it kind of reminds me of a UFO. / Or of an alien. 2007, Sonya Sones, “Mom Drives Me over to Harvard Ten Minutes Early”, in What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 77:
   • In a neighborhood of modest bungalows, tearing down an existing house and shoehorning a multistory, 5,000-square-foot behemoth into the same lot makes the new home stick out in a sore-thumbish way. 2004, Paul McFedries, Word Spy: The Word Lover’s Guide to Modern Culture, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN:
   • Many of the serious bits, by contrast, were slow and sore-thumbish, abounding in what the New Yorker used to call cries we doubt ever got cried, like 'that man Robespierre will go far.' 1989, Plays and Players, number 425, Hansom Books, page 37:

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