unbending

[uhn-ben-ding]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR unbending ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

not bending or curving; inflexible; rigid.

refusing to yield or compromise; resolute.

austere or formal; aloof.

Origin of unbending

1545–55; un-¹ + bending

Related formsun·bend·ing·ly, adverbun·bend·ing·ness, noun

unbend

[uhn-bend]

verb (used with object), un·bent or (Archaic) un·bend·ed, un·bend·ing.

to straighten from a bent form or position.

to release from the strain of formality, intense effort, etc.; relax: to unbend one's mind.

to release from tension, as a bow.

Nautical.

to loose or untie, as a sail or rope.
to unfasten from spars or stays, as sails.

verb (used without object), un·bent or (Archaic) un·bend·ed, un·bend·ing.

to relax the strictness of formality or ceremony; act in an easy, genial manner: Imagine him unbending!

to become unbent; straighten.

Origin of unbend

Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at un-², bend¹

Related formsun·bend·a·ble, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for unbending

firm, obstinate, reserved, crisp, aloof, distant, formal, hard-line, incompliant, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, obdurate, relentless, resolute, severe, single-minded, stiff, strict

Examples from the Web for unbending

Contemporary Examples of unbending

Koop, a man of the far right, was standing tall and unbending.
C. Everett Koop: Pioneering Surgeon General Spurred Reagan Response to AIDS
Kent Sepkowitz
February 26, 2013
Ayalon himself told me in in October 2010 that zero-enrichment is an unbending Israeli red line.
Who is Bibi preempting – Obama or Iran?
Trita Parsi
August 15, 2012
Now those positions are coming back to haunt him as Republican activists demand a candidate of unbending right-wing convictions.
Why Mitt Romney Can’t Win
Peter Beinart
September 6, 2011
Washington, unbending in his role as the noblest republican of them all, administered a severe blow to imperial pride.
Washington in Victory
Piers Brendon
October 10, 2008

Historical Examples of unbending

Her struggles met only the unbending, pitiless resistance of steel.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Old Dibs smiled a sickly smile, like he was unbending to a pair of kids.
Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas
Lloyd Osbourne
The former should be strict, authoritative, unbending; the latter should be mild and gentle.
The Teacher
Jacob Abbott
He had been brought up in the most unbending school of Toryism.
The Ontario High School Reader
A.E. Marty
The trees seemed rigid and unbending in the wind that caressed his face.
Divinity
William Morrison

British Dictionary definitions for unbending

unbending

adjective

rigid or inflexible

characterized by sternness or severityan unbending rule

Derived Formsunbendingly, adverbunbendingness, noun

unbend

verb -bends, -bending or -bent

to release or be released from the restraints of formality and ceremony

informal to relax (the mind) or (of the mind) to become relaxed

to become or be made straightened out from an originally bent shape or position

(tr) nautical

to remove (a sail) from a stay, mast, yard, etc
to untie (a rope, etc) or cast (a cable) loose

Derived Formsunbendable, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for unbending

unbend

"to relax a bow by unstringing it," mid-13c., from un- (2) + bend (v.). Figurative meaning "to become genial, relax" (1748) has a sense opposite to that of unbending "inflexible, obstinate" (1680s), which does not derive from the bowstringing image.