Unfriendly Meaning
/ʌnˈfɹɛn(d)li/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot friendly; hostile; mean.
adjUnfavourable.
Sentence Examples
Mary looks unfriendly, but she is really very kind at heart.
Can you figure out why the boss is so unfriendly this week?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new neighbor never smiled or said hello; he was quite ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cat was quite ____ at first, but it eventually became much more relaxed after we gave it some food today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English unfrendly, unfrendli, unfrendely, from Old English *unfrēondlīċ (suggested by derivative unfrēondlīċe (“in an unfriendly manner; unfriendly”, adverb)), equivalent to un- + friendly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uunfrüntelk, uunfjuntelk (“unfriendly”), West Frisian ûnfreonlik (“unfriendly”), Dutch onvriendelijk (“unfriendly”), German Low German unfrünnelk (“unfriendly”), German unfreundlich (“unfriendly”), Faroese ófryntligur (“unfriendly”), Icelandic ófrýnilegur (“ugly; disturbing”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Shrekkies will notice that the musical is going off-piste from the film right from the start when the curtain rises to reveal a seven-year-old Shrek turfed out into an unfriendly world by his parents."
— 2008 November 3, Tom Leonard, “Will Shrek be a monster hit on Broadway?”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 47,718, page 29:
"The reputations of our universities and our research base are already under threat because of the fallout from the EU referendum result, which is making the UK an unfriendlier place for overseas scholars and students, as well as cutting off access to an important stream of research funding and to a vibrant and well-developed ecosystem for collaborative work."
— 2016 October 18, Stephen Curry, “Why the Higher Education and Research Bill must be amended”, in The Guardian:
"I thought of him as a young man in Washington for the first time, first job with McCarthy, and that that was probably one of the unfriendliest spaces at the time for a gay person."
— 2020 June 17, Charles Bramesco, “Bully, coward, victim? Inside the sinister world of Trump mentor Roy Cohn”, in The Guardian:
"Sweep the valley compound and eliminate any unfriendlies you encounter."
— 2005, Ted Dekker, Thunder of Heaven, page 217:
"You see, the mission of almost every teenage girl on the loose is to first identify the targets, just like a war. These include the primary objective (the boy), the enemy (other girls), the friendlies (sympathetic girl friends and the boy's family), and unfriendlies (other boys)."
— 2008, Dennis Wengert, A Very Healthy Insanity, page 44:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new neighbor never smiled or said hello; he was quite ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cat was quite ____ at first, but it eventually became much more relaxed after we gave it some food today.