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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

unmean en · ADJ · etymology 1

Etymology

From un- (“not”) + mean.

Meanings

  1. (rare) Not mean (all senses).
    • They are so unmean, so just and so kind. 2014, Martin Bowman, Battlefield Bombers: Deep Sea Attack, page 8:
    • But this whole time, all you've been doing is judging me, making not unmean comments about my new friends, about the guys I'm dating, about how much I drink, go out—everything—as if you don't approve. 2008, Sherri Rifkin, LoveHampton, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 247:
    • The Age of Innocence is based on an Edith Wharton novel and set in the very unmean streets of upper-crust New York, circa 1870. 1999, Martin Scorsese, Peter Brunette, Martin Scorsese: Interviews, page 188:
    • So the tightrope these unmean men must walk drew taut. 2010, John Lennard, Of Sex and Faerie: Further Essays on Genre Fiction, page 65:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most unmean Degree=Sup lexicographic
more unmean Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Synonyms

kind (various) · generous (various) · agreeable (various)

unmean en · VERB · etymology 2

Etymology

From un- (“reverse, opposite”) + mean.

Meanings

  1. (rare) To reverse, cancel, or negate what was intentionally communicated.
    • I'd meant everything I ever said to her, and I didn't know how to unmean it. 2015, CD Reiss, Shuttergirl:
    • The play works to unmean meaning by a double dislocation. It uses expectation to undermine expectation both of everyday 'reality' and of theatrical genre. 2007, Ralph Yarrow, Franc Chamberlain, Sacred Theatre, page 114:
    • ... just as Steinian non-sense derives its power to “unmean” from the rigidly semantic context of most discursive forms 2011, Maria Damon, Postliterary America: From Bagel Shop Jazz to Micropoetries, page 83:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
unmeans Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
unmeant Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
unmeant Tense=Past lexicographic
unmeaning Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Relateds

unring

Synonyms

withcall · walk back · take back