unfriendly
Americanadjective
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not amicable; not friendly or kindly in disposition; unsympathetic; aloof.
an unfriendly coldness of manner.
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hostile; antagonistic.
an unfriendly act of aggression.
-
unfavorable; inhospitable or inimical, as an environment.
an unfriendly climate for new ideas.
adverb
adjective
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not friendly; hostile
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unfavourable or disagreeable
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unfriendly
before 900; Middle English (adj.); Old English unfreondlīche (adv.). See un- 1, friendly
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.
See Examples For:
While Platner's non-political background elevated him in a climate unfriendly to establishment candidates, several scandals emerged that rocked his campaign.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
“That makes an unfriendly environment for Asian FX,” they add.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Cuba fired back, calling the dismissal an "unfriendly and unprecedented act that seriously damages the history of friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries," Havana's foreign ministry said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
The exchange went down after the unfriendly parties apparently spotted one another on a Delta flight from San Francisco to New York’s JFK airport.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
Sam looked up into the pale sky, fearing to see hawks or eagles hovering over them with bright unfriendly eyes.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
The money piece never quite shook out on the avant-garde, and by the 1980s the lofts had mostly closed amid rising rents and unfriendlier civic attitudes toward semi-legal assembly.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
And the gallant Red Admiral, the brave beautiful Red Admiral that had dared unfriendlier gales, trimmed his painted sails to a wind that was the breath of spring.
From Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man by Marie Conway Oemler
Some of the less grateful passages had been censored by Medora's own hand and the unfriendlier of the critics thus partially disarmed in advance.
From Under the Skylights by Henry Blake Fuller
The tale results in a flashback to a Dickensian-looking period when Sesame Street was known as “the unfriendliest street in town” and ancestors of all the current gang spent their days crabbing at one another.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2016
The expression of the miner's eyes promised the unfriendliest kind of "capers" if he should ever get an opportunity to cut them.
From The Talking Leaves An Indian Story by William Osborn Stoddard
She clasped a chain about the hound's neck, and they set off westward towards the house of Fergus Fionnliath, who was reputed to be the unfriendliest man in the world to a dog.
From Irish Fairy Tales by James Stephens
To find out that you are not so good or generous or magnanimous as you thought is, next to having other people find it out, probably the unfriendliest discovery that can be made.
From A Fearful Responsibility and Other Stories by William Dean Howells
He feels that he is engaged in single combat with Nature at her unfriendliest.
From And Even Now by Sir Max Beerbohm
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.
