unkind

English

Etymology

From Middle English unkind; equivalent to un- +‎ kind.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkaɪnd/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -aɪnd

Adjective

unkind (comparative unkinder or more unkind, superlative unkindest or most unkind)

Lacking kindness, sympathy, benevolence, gratitude, or similar; cruel, harsh or unjust; ungrateful. [from mid-14th c.]
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
  Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!
  This was the most unkindest cut of all;
  For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
  Ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms,
  Quite vanquish’d him: then burst his mighty heart;
- 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book 24”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 189, lines 968-971:
  Yet was it ne’er my Fate, from thee to find
  A Deed ungentle, or a Word unkind:
  When others curst the Auth’ress of their Woe,
  Thy Pity check’d my Sorrows in their Flow:
- 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 24:
  Nobody meant to be unkind, but nobody put themselves out of their way to secure her comfort.
- 1950 July 3, “Politicians Without Politics”, in Life, page 16:
  Despite the bursitis, Dewey got in a good round of golf, though his cautious game inspired a reporter to make one of the week′s unkindest remarks: “He plays golf like he plays politics — straight down the middle, and short.”
- 1974, Laurence William Wylie, Village in the Vaucluse, 3rd edition, page 175:
  We had to learn that to refuse such gifts, which represented serious sacrifice, was more unkind than to accept them.
- 2000, Edward W. Said, “On Lost Causes”, in Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, page 540:
  In the strictness with which he holds this view he belongs in the company of the novelists I have cited, except that he is unkinder and less charitable than they are.
(obsolete) Not kind; contrary to nature or type; unnatural. [from 13th c.]
- 1582, Stephen Batman, transl., Batman vppon Bartholome His Booke De Proprietatibus Rerum‎^[1], London, Book 7, Chapter 33:
  […] A Feauer is an vnkinde heate, that commeth out of the heart, and passeth into all the members of the bodye, and grieueth the working of the bodye.
- 1617, John Davies, Wits Bedlam‎^[2], London, Epigram 116:
  Crowes will not feed their yong til 9. daies old,
  Because their vnkind colour makes them doubt
  Them to be theirs;
(obsolete) Having no race or kindred; childless.
- 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC‎^[3]:
  O, had thy mother borne so hard a mind,
  She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind.

Derived terms

unkindest cut

Related terms

Anagrams

Dunkin, nudnik