Dictionary

unsocial en · ADJ

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree English un- Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós Proto-Italic *sokjos Latin sokios Latin socius Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin sociālisbor. Middle French socialbor. English social English unsocial From un- + social.

Meanings

1. Not social.
   • The municipal corporations of that universal kingdom are not morally at liberty at their pleasure, and on their speculations of a contingent improvement, wholly to separate and tear asunder the bands of their subordinate community, and to dissolve it into an unsocial, uncivil, unconnected chaos of elementary principles. 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
   • The process which, if not checked, will abolish Man, goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists. […] Once we killed bad men: now we liquidate unsocial elements. 1943, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, “The Abolition of Man”, in The Abolition of Man […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published 1947, →OCLC, page 46:
   • He went to London, though he would have preferred remaining in the country; he gave a grand fête of some description or other every year, though he hated the noise and confusion; he filled his house with company, though his habits were even unsocial: in short, his whole life was one succession of sacrifices, but they were sacrifices without merit—they were the sacrifices of weakness, not of strength. 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 13:
2. Not seeking or showing the desire for the company of others; inhospitable.
   • The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he; "but since he is so unsocial to Christians, e'en let him take the next stall to Isaac the Jew's. 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

unsocially · unsocialness

Translations (3)

es insocial (Translations) · it insocievole (Translations) · it antisociale (Translations)