UNFRIENDLY (unfriendlier, unfriendliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: unfriendlier    , unfriendliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unfriendly mean? 

• UNFRIENDLY (adjective)
  The adjective UNFRIENDLY has 4 senses:

1. not easy to understand or use

2. not disposed to friendship or friendliness

3. not friendly

4. very unfavorable to life or growth

  Familiarity information: UNFRIENDLY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNFRIENDLY (adjective)

Comparative: unfriendlier   
Superlative: unfriendliest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not easy to understand or use

Context example:

user-unfriendly

Domain usage:

combining form (a bound form used only in compounds)

Antonym:

friendly (easy to understand or use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not disposed to friendship or friendliness

Context example:

an unfriendly action to take

Similar:

beetle-browed; scowling (sullen or unfriendly in appearance)

chilly (lacking warmth of feeling)

uncordial (lacking warmth or friendliness)

unneighborly; unneighbourly (not exhibiting the qualities expected in a friendly neighbor)

Also:

incompatible; uncongenial (not suitable to your tastes or needs)

inhospitable (not hospitable)

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

unsociable (not inclined to society or companionship)

cool (psychologically cool and unenthusiastic; unfriendly or unresponsive or showing dislike)

Attribute:

friendliness (a friendly disposition)

Antonym:

friendly (characteristic of or befitting a friend)

Derivation:

unfriendliness (an unfriendly disposition)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not friendly

Synonyms:

inimical; unfriendly

Context example:

an inimical critic

Similar:

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

Derivation:

unfriendliness (dislike experienced as an absence of friendliness)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Very unfavorable to life or growth

Synonyms:

hostile; uncongenial; unfriendly

Context example:

the unfriendly environment at high altitudes

Similar:

inhospitable (unfavorable to life or growth)

 Context examples 

He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would still be desperate.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The conversation between them at Northanger had been of the most unfriendly kind.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The hardiest of the microbes were able to reproduce even in the presence of extremely unfriendly chemicals, such as ammonia and carbon monoxide.

(Scientists: Life Can Thrive in Most Extreme Environments, George Putic/VOA)

He smelled around the stuffed man as if he suspected there might be a nest of rats in the straw, and he often growled in an unfriendly way at the Scarecrow.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

And he aided and abetted them in their unfriendly designs, for going to work was farthest from his thoughts.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It seems stingy, to my notions, and dry, and unfriendly.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The ground covered with snow, and the atmosphere in that unsettled state between frost and thaw, which is of all others the most unfriendly for exercise, every morning beginning in rain or snow, and every evening setting in to freeze, she was for many days a most honourable prisoner.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

All this she had said, and with the earnestness of sincerity; yet this was not enough, for he immediately denied there being anything uncongenial in their characters, or anything unfriendly in their situations; and positively declared, that he would still love, and still hope!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But the chief grievance that rankled in her soul, and gave an excuse for her unfriendly conduct, was a rumor which some obliging gossip had whispered to her, that the March girls had made fun of her at the Lambs'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

For myself, I felt so much self-reproach and contrition for my part in what had happened, that nothing would have enabled me to keep back my tears but the fear that Steerforth, who often looked at me, I saw, might think it unfriendly—or, I should rather say, considering our relative ages, and the feeling with which I regarded him, undutiful—if I showed the emotion which distressed me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)