aloof
- at a distance, especially in feeling or interest; apart: They always stood aloof from their classmates.
- reserved or reticent; indifferent; disinterested: Because of his shyness, he had the reputation of being aloof.
Origin of aloof
Synonyms for aloof
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for aloof
Related Words for aloof
haughty, standoffish, unsympathetic, distant, detached, indifferent, unresponsive, above, apart, casual, chilly, cold, cool, forbidding, hard-boiled, loner, reserved, secluded, solitary, superciliousExamples from the Web for aloof
Contemporary Examples of aloof
They should ask themselves instead how anyone as bored and aloof as Barack Obama could bother himself to hate anything.
A Utah mother charged with killing six of her infant children was described as cold and aloof by a neighbor.
I can see how it would make people come across as cagey or aloof.
Aloof and bookish, Pius XI (Achille Ratti) spent years as a Vatican librarian before becoming a diplomat and cardinal.
With irony and wit he charmed a nation, but displayed a detachment that kept him aloof from the passions of his time.
The New New Left Is No New Frontier and JFK Was No LiberalJames L. Swanson, Michael F. Bishop
October 8, 2013
Historical Examples of aloof
She was like the falling of this starlight, pure, aloof, and strange and gentle.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
Peter stood there silent, aloof, detached; and he appeared quite cool.
Jan and Her JobL. Allen Harker
Little Fay was as obstreperous as Tony was disagreeably silent and aloof.
Jan and Her JobL. Allen Harker
She stood as cold and aloof as earlier she had been warm and clinging.
The Historical Nights Entertainment, Second SeriesRafael Sabatini
Even so; and of all men Socrates stood most aloof from such crimes.
The MemorabiliaXenophon
aloof
- distant, unsympathetic, or supercilious in manner, attitude, or feeling
Word Origin for aloof
Word Origin and History for aloof
1530s, from a- (1) + Middle English loof "weather gage," also "windward direction," probably from Dutch loef (Middle Dutch lof) "the weather side of a ship." Originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter; hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart" (1580s). Related: Aloofly; aloofness.