Dictionary

ungrandfatherly en · ADJ

Etymology

From un- + grandfatherly.

Meanings

1. Not grandfatherly.
   • Anne watched as he put an arm around one of the bridesmaids and gave her a decidedly ungrandfatherly squeeze while attempting to look down her dress, then proceeded to hit on the mother of the groom. 2015, Sheila Roberts, A Wedding on Primrose Street, MIRA, →ISBN, page 181:
   • But when she took Roy’s return call (collect), she was shocked by the ungrandfatherly voice on the other end. 2011, Neil Lanctot, Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 417:
   • “A very good letter, isn’t it?” asked Sacheverel, as Burke handed it back to him. “Very. Rather ungrandfatherly, eh?” “Can you imagine any one being the conventional grandfather to Pam? I am hard put to it, very often, to be simply paternal.” 1905, Bettina [Riddle] von Hutten, chapter V, in Pam, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, page 121:
   • She took the little ones to the home of her husband’s father, and he, with somewhat ungrandfatherly promptitude, transplanted them to the infirmary. 1896 June 28, “[Yesterday’s Police Cases.] Bumbledom.”, in Reynolds’s Newspaper, number 2,394, London, page 8, column 2:

Forms