underbred
Americanadjective
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having inferior breeding or manners; vulgar.
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not of pure breed, as a horse.
adjective
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of impure stock; not thoroughbred
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a less common word for ill-bred
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of underbred
Vocabulary lists containing underbred
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.
“It is underbred, not only in the obvious sense, but in the literary sense.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
But none of these talents overcame the sad fact that Wolf was not a show dog and that he looked positively underbred and shabby alongside of his sire or of Bruce.
From Lad: A Dog by Terhune, Albert Payson
She is forward, affected, and underbred; and her character is somewhat—never mind what.
From A History of Pendennis, Volume 1 His fortunes and misfortunes, his friends and his greatest enemy by Thackeray, William Makepeace
Why, on top of her experience of bearleading a brace of utterly uninteresting and unengaging children—and being at the beck and call of their detestable underbred mother, this was ideal.
From The Heath Hover Mystery by Mitford, Bertram
You were fortunate, madam," said I, "in the indisposition that confined you to your room, and which rescued you from the underbred presumption of this man's manners.
From A Day's Ride A Life's Romance by Lever, Charles James
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.
