uncool
Americanadjective
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not self-assured or relaxed.
He felt very uncool, making a speech to strangers.
-
not sophisticated or worldly-wise.
adjective
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unsophisticated; unfashionable
-
excitable; tense; not cool
Etymology
Origin of uncool
1955–60; un- 1 + cool (in the slang senses “socially adept”)
Explanation
Uncool means unstylish or not in fashion, like your dad's uncool jeans or the uncool music he likes to blast in the car when he picks you up from school. (How embarrassing!) The colloquial word cool, meaning "fashionable," or denoting approval in general, has been around since the 1930s and 40s, inspired by jazz slang. Uncool, meaning the exact opposite, first appeared in the 1950s as hipster slang, and it's been in use ever since. So if you're disapproving of or unimpressed with something, it's totally cool to go ahead and call it uncool.
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.
Scripts were packed with bad-boy rebels, spoiled teen queens and uncool misfits of all kinds.
From Salon • Feb. 28, 2026
When Elvis retook the stage in 1969, he hadn’t performed before a live audience in nine years and he’d gotten a little uncool.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
Some Chinese youth may find it strange that parts of their culture - long seen as "uncool" in the Western imagination - are now the object of fascination.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
From uncool to mainstream isn’t so out of the ordinary.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 18, 2026
It meant that they felt it was time for Esperanza’s friends to head home, but they were so hopelessly awkward that they couldn’t bring themselves to say it, lest they seem uncool.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
