uncouth

[uhn-kooth]

See more synonyms for uncouth on Thesaurus.com

adjective

awkward, clumsy, or unmannerly: uncouth behavior; an uncouth relative who embarrasses the family.
strange and ungraceful in appearance or form.
unusual or strange.

Origin of uncouth

before 900; Middle English; Old English uncūth (see un-¹, couth²); cognate with Dutch onkond

Related formsun·couth·ly, adverbun·couth·ness, noun

Synonyms for uncouth

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1. discourteous, rude, uncivil. 3. odd, unfamiliar.

Synonym study

1. See boorish.

Antonyms for uncouth

1. courteous.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for uncouth

awkward, barbaric, boorish, cheap, coarse, crass, crude, discourteous, gawky, graceless, gross, heavy-handed, ill-mannered, impertinent, impolite, inelegant, loud, loutish, oafish, raunchy

Examples from the Web for uncouth

Contemporary Examples of uncouth

Because while calling a passerby “sexy” may be uncouth, it shouldn't be illegal.
Street Harassment Shouldn’t Be a Crime
Lizzie Crocker
October 29, 2014
A child who masters the classics will stand apart from the uncouth boors on the school bus.
A Few Good Books for Dads
John Elder Robison
June 14, 2013
Sarkozy is known for running—television crews often film him, sweaty and uncouth, as he jogs in an NYPD t-shirt.
Did Carla Wear Him Out?
Eric Pape
July 28, 2009

Historical Examples of uncouth

He was the first tragedian of the Comdie, and the most uncouth man in France or anywhere else.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
Their uncouth simplicity was, as they say of wines, their race.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
The sight of these things filled the boy with a respect for the uncouth fellow.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
For so uncouth a person he was strangely commendable and worthy.
Ruggles of Red Gap
Harry Leon Wilson
My own looked so enormous and clumsy and uncouth by comparison.
Kent Knowles: Quahaug
Joseph C. Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for uncouth

uncouth

adjective

lacking in good manners, refinement, or grace

Derived Formsuncouthly, adverbuncouthness, noun

Word Origin for uncouth

Old English uncūth, from un- 1 + cūth familiar; related to Old High German kund known, Old Norse kunnr

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 uncouth

adj.

Old English uncuð "unknown, uncertain, unfamiliar," from un- (1) "not" + cuð "known, well-known," past participle of cunnan "to know" (see can (v.)). Meaning "strange, crude, clumsy" is first recorded 1510s. The compound (and the thing it describes) widespread in IE languages, cf. Latin ignorantem, Old Norse ukuðr, Gothic unkunþs, Sanskrit ajnatah, Armenian ancanaut', Greek agnotos, Old Irish ingnad "unknown."