UNAPPROACHABLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unapproachable mean? 

• UNAPPROACHABLE (adjective)
  The adjective UNAPPROACHABLE has 2 senses:

1. discouraging intimacies; reserved

2. inaccessibly located or situated

  Familiarity information: UNAPPROACHABLE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNAPPROACHABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Discouraging intimacies; reserved

Context example:

an unapproachable executive

Similar:

offish; standoffish (lacking cordiality; unfriendly)

Antonym:

approachable (easy to meet or converse or do business with)

Derivation:

unapproachability (a disposition to be unapproachable; unfriendly and inaccessible)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Inaccessibly located or situated

Synonyms:

out of reach; unapproachable; unreachable; unreached

Context example:

the unreachable stars

Similar:

inaccessible; unaccessible (capable of being reached only with great difficulty or not at all)

 Context examples 

As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were unapproachable from that side.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had been making of her a creature goddess-like and unapproachable.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Joe was sourer than ever, and Sol-leks was unapproachable, blind side or other side.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

When the tea bell rang, Jo appeared, looking so grim and unapproachable that it took all Amy's courage to say meekly...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I saw even that to be thus frankly addressed on a subject he had deemed unapproachable—to hear it thus freely handled—was beginning to be felt by him as a new pleasure—an unhoped-for relief.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I shall not be in any doubtful, or distant, or unapproachable region.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)