unkind
Americanadjective
adjective
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lacking kindness; unsympathetic or cruel
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archaic
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(of weather) unpleasant
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(of soil) hard to cultivate
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unkind
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at un- 1, kind 1
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.
See Examples For:
It’s the sort of line that doesn’t stand up to an unkind reading.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
"They've said some very unkind things about Britain, and also about the monarchy."
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Some of the online judgment may seem unkind, but in today’s market, the criticism may be valid.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
But no one here is out to humiliate anyone, which is nasty and unkind and not at all the sort of humor Lawrence trades in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2026
It was wrong to think that life had been unkind to him.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
It’s not at all a serious remark, yet it’s a reflection of Stewart’s regular-guy populism — or, to be unkinder, provincialism.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2021
“The cuts seem unkinder now than they’ve ever been,” said Jeff Shesol, a Democratic speechwriter.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2014
The new low, low hemline has been officially named the Midi, but many fashionplates have unkinder words for it.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some months later, the women of Walsenburg dealt Mosco an even unkinder cut: they asked him to serve without any salary at all, and. then, when he refused, fired him outright.
From Time Magazine Archive
Oh! nothing could be unkinder than to whitewash them.
From Deadham Hard by Lucas Malet
But for Subaru’s tree-hugging clientele, the unkindest cut has been fuel economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
In the unkindest cut of all, these critics say that Glantz has become an unwitting ally of the tobacco industry.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2021
Maybe the unkindest cut came after the relocation vote at the Board of Governors meeting in Dallas.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2020
We need people to stop this unkindest cut of all.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2017
But yours is the unkindest cut of all.
From Rossmoyne by Unknown
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.
