aloofness
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of aloofness
Explanation
Aloofness is a noun meaning a state of being distant, remote, or withdrawn. Someone showing aloofness might be shy, or just really doesn't want to be around people. Aloofness is from the adjective aloof — originally a nautical term. The lee side of a ship was the sheltered side, but in a storm, if the wind was blowing your ship toward shore, you wanted to steer toward the loof (or weather side) of the ship, so that you weren't forced into the shore. Thus literally trying to keep your distance from shore by steering a loof, which gave rise to the more figurative meaning of being distant.
Vocabulary lists containing aloofness
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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.
Aloofness, provided it be not selfish, has its own value, and, indeed, isolation must be recognized as a law of our existence.
From Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold by Johnson, William Savage
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.
