un-English
Americanadjective
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not English; not characteristic of the English.
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not conforming to standard, accepted, or native English language usage.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Those of us laboring in academia are not surprised that such un-English phrases show up in a book, even one printed by the prominent publisher W. W. Norton & Company.
From New York Times • Mar. 11, 2022
This sort of weapon, she says, is “unsportsmanlike, it is un-English, and it is in very poor taste.”
From Washington Post • Jun. 20, 2017
But that did not stop a Czech minister joking about the decidedly un-English dinner menu, unless you count the strawberries for dessert.
From BBC • Jun. 28, 2016
Roman Polanski, who directed his own Oliver Twist in 2005, is seldom accused of cosiness and gooey sentimentality and his film benefits from being so un-English.
From The Guardian • Aug. 20, 2011
We now find that it is regarded as unpatriotic, un-English, ungrateful, and I know not what, to say a word about a possible severance, at any time, between the parent country and her colonies.
From Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches by McCarthy, Justin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
