standoffish
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See also: stand-offish
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (Conservative RP) IPA(key): /stænˈdɔː.fɪʃ/
- (General American) enPR: ŏf, IPA(key): /stænˈdɔ.fɪʃ/
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /stænˈdɑ.fɪʃ/
Adjective[edit]
standoffish (comparative more standoffish, superlative most standoffish)
- Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213, columns 1–2:
- He was stand-offish with the other agents. They on their side said he was the manager’s spy upon them.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 611:
- His initial impression was that he was a bit standoffish or not over effusive […]
- 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter VII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, authorized British edition, London: Martin Secker […], published February 1932 (May 1932 printing), →OCLC, page 96:
- They were always a haughty family, stand-offish in a way, as they've a right to be.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
unsociable
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- “standoffish”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- "standoffish" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
- “standoffish”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987–1996.