unkindly

English

Etymology

From unkind +‎ -ly.

Adjective

unkindly (comparative more unkindly, superlative most unkindly)

1. Not kindly.
   1. Not kind, lacking in friendliness, warm-heartedness or sympathy.
      • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter 2,^[1]

        Preceded by the beadle, and attended by an irregular procession of stern-browed men and unkindly visaged women, Hester Prynne set forth towards the place appointed for her punishment.

      • 1906, E. Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter 4,^[2]

        […] she had seen a not unkindly wink pass between the two.

   2. (archaic) Rough, unfavourable, bad.
      • 1658, Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, London: Henry Brome, “Cyrus-Garden, or The Quincunx Naturally Considered,” p. 130,^[3]

        From this superfluous pulp in unkindely, and wet years, may arise that multiplicity of little insects, which infest the Roots and Sprouts of tender Graines and pulses.

      • 1789, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Anthem for the Children of Christ’s Hospital” in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, London: William Pickering, 1834, Volume 1, p. 5,^[4]

        Unkindly cold and tempest shrill

        In life’s morn oft the traveller chill,

   3. (obsolete) Unnatural, contrary to the natural or proper order of things.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 1, p. 10,^[5]

        That detestable sight him much amazde,

        To see th’vnkindly Impes of heauen accurst,

        Deuoure their dam;

      • 1678, Robert Sanderson, Nine Cases of Conscience Occasionally Determined, London: H. Brome et al., p. 128,^[6]

        […] the want of mercy in a Father, is more unkindly, more unseemly, more unnatural than in another man […]

Derived terms

• unkindliness

Adverb

unkindly (comparative more unkindly, superlative most unkindly)

1. In an unkind manner.
   • c. 1593 William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act III, Scene 1,^[7]

     Good master, take it not unkindly, pray,

     That I have been thus pleasant [i.e. joking] with you both.

   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: W. Chetwood, p. ,^[8]

     […] I had over-heard them several times talking very Unkindly about me;

   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Chapter 20,^[9]

     If she and John love one another, they can wait, and test the love by doing so. She is conscientious, and I have no fear of her treating him unkindly.

   • 1918, Rose Macaulay, What Not, London: Constable, Chapter 11, p. 222,^[10]

     Chester and Prideaux were dragged firmly but not unkindly down the stairs and out through the door.

2. (obsolete) In an unnatural manner.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 3, lines 455-458,^[11]

     All th’ unaccomplisht works of Natures hand,

     Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixt,

     Dissolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

     Till final dissolution, wander here,

Antonyms

• kindly