unfatherly

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ fatherly.

Adjective

unfatherly (comparative more unfatherly, superlative most unfatherly)

1. Not fatherly; unpaternal.
   • 1602, Anonymous, A Pleasant Conceited Comedy, Wherein is shewed how a man may chuse a good wife from a bad, London: Mathew Lawe, Act I, Scene 2,^[1]

     Shall we come thus far, and in such post haste,

     And have our children here, and both within,

     And not behold them e’er our back-return?

     It were unfriendly, and unfatherly.

   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 121:

     Alladad Khan, left alone, dandled unhandily his child in unfatherly arms.

Derived terms

• unfatherliness

Translations

not fatherly

• Irish: mí-aithriúil
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}