unflattering
Britishadjective
Explanation
Unflattering things make you look bad, like an unflattering photograph your dad takes while you're eating a cheeseburger or the unflattering review of your band's first concert. If the light is unflattering, it'll make people look tired or pale, or cast strange shadows that cause pictures you take of them to look terrible. An unflattering movie review makes the film sound boring or badly acted. When something is flattering, it compliments someone, or shows a person or a thing in its very best light, from the Old French root flater, "caress." Add the "not" prefix un-, and you get unflattering.
Vocabulary lists containing unflattering
"Face Facts: The Science of Facial Expressions" and "Silent Language"
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You Bring the Distant Near
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Holding Up the Universe
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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.
Unflattering returns but Bashir's stoicism has ensured he's not been overly affected by the noise surrounding his non-selection.
From BBC • Dec. 24, 2025
Unflattering paparazzi photos of Elizabeth appeared in newspapers.
From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2022
Unflattering publicity followed, including the revelation by a state senator and ethics commission member that 27 complaints — not necessarily all harassment-related — had been filed but not acted upon during the vacancy.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 11, 2018
Unflattering remarks early on about Chelsea Clinton prompted first lady Hillary Clinton to call for a halt to the jokes.
From Washington Times • Jan. 23, 2017
Unflattering hackerism for `Teleray', a now-extinct line of extremely losing terminals.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.
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.
