unseemly en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English unsemli, probably a partial calque of Old Norse úsǽmiligr (“unseemly”); equivalent to un- + seemly. Cognate with Icelandic ósæmileg (“offensive”), Norwegian usømmelig (“unseemly”), Danish usømmelig (“unseemly”), German unziemlich.
Meanings
-
Inconsistent with established standards of good form or taste.
She stays off social media because she finds it a bit unseemly: “I certainly was not going to do what a lot of the rest of the world and a lot of women seem to be doing, which is photographing themselves half naked on Instagram, screaming for attention. It’s just not who I am.”
2025 November 5, Zoe Williams, quoting Famke Janssen, “‘I thought ‘Bond girl’ was such a demeaning term’: Famke Janssen on acting, ambition and Woody Allen”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:He was drunk and made some very unseemly comments.
“We’d better stand quiet—he’ll go in again directly. He would think it unseemly o’ us to be loitering here.”
1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXIII, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 287:Yet this I can say, I was very wary of giving them occasion, by any unseemly action, to make them averse to going on pilgrimage.
1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:The young clergyman, after a few hours of privacy, was sensible that the disorder of his nerves had hurried him into an unseemly outbreak of temper, which there had been nothing in the physician's words to excuse or palliate.
1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 10, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 164:Secrets that few would like to scrutinise were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat, and sepulchres of bones.
1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 129:An all female race, the asari reproduce through a form of parthenogenesis. Each asari can attune her nervous system to that of another individual of any gender, and of any species, to reproduce. This capability has led to unseemly and inaccurate rumors about asari promiscuity.
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Asari Codex entry:[I]n the 575 days since [Oscar] Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality.
2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):Many men, women and children, clothed in bright raiment for the Sabbath, saw with a faint flicker of interest and surprise a very white man on a trishaw, and the driver pedalling with unseemly haste.
1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), London: Heinemann, page 192:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| unsemely | alternative | lexicographic | |
| unseemliest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| unseemlier | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
Relateds
Synonyms
Translations (53)
it indicibile (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · ru непристойный (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · cs nevhodný (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · es impropio (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · es extemporáneo (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · hi अनुचित (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · pl niestosowny (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · es desubicado (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · de unziemlich (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · ru неуместный (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · grc ἀπρεπής (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · grc ἀεικής (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · de unschicklich (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · gl impropio (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · eo malkonvena (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · bg непристоен (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · lv nepieklājīgs (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · io nedecanta (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · bg неприличен (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · fr malséant (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · nl onfatsoenlijk (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · nb upassende (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · eo maldeca (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · it inappropriato (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · fi sopimaton (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · uk ненале́жний (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · gd mì-innealta (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · it irripetibile (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · cy anweddus (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · pl nieodpowiedni (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · ru неподоба́ющий (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · io desdecanta (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · pt impróprio (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · et ebaviisakas (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · pl niewłaściwy (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · mi hake (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · da usømmelig (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · grc ἀσχήμων (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · es extemporal (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · nl ongepast (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · lv nepiedienīgs (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · es inapropiado (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · nl onbehoorlijk (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · de unangebracht (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · da upassende (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · sv opassande (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · cmn 不体面的 (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · gd mì-cheanalta (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · it indecoroso (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · hi अशोभनीय (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · de unpassend (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · nl onbetamelijk (inconsistent with standards, etc.) · et näotu (inconsistent with standards, etc.)