unkind
Americanadjective
adjective
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lacking kindness; unsympathetic or cruel
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archaic
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(of weather) unpleasant
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(of soil) hard to cultivate
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unkind
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at un- 1, kind 1
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:
England did not want to go through the play-offs but were given an unkind draw in the qualifying groups when they met world champions Spain.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
There’s no denying that as a comedian, he is often unkind.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
Some of the online judgment may seem unkind, but in today’s market, the criticism may be valid.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
He also shares a desire to cultivate more patience and to become more willing to challenge unkind behavior.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 13, 2025
“Poor Incorrigibles! It would be terribly unkind of me to make a fuss about turning sixteen, given the circumstances.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
It’s not at all a serious remark, yet it’s a reflection of Stewart’s regular-guy populism — or, to be unkinder, provincialism.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2021
“The cuts seem unkinder now than they’ve ever been,” said Jeff Shesol, a Democratic speechwriter.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2014
Some months later, the women of Walsenburg dealt Mosco an even unkinder cut: they asked him to serve without any salary at all, and. then, when he refused, fired him outright.
From Time Magazine Archive
The new low, low hemline has been officially named the Midi, but many fashionplates have unkinder words for it.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Ah! but any medicine HE had prescribed would have done me good, and that makes it all the unkinder."
From A Simpleton by Reade, Charles
For the American people to turn their back on them would be the unkindest cut of all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
I am talking about some of the unkindest cuts, the curious tinkering I have of late experienced with texts of Shakespeare, changes that come across as willful rather than illuminating, silly instead of clever.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2022
In the unkindest cut of all, these critics say that Glantz has become an unwitting ally of the tobacco industry.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2021
Too old to seize a moment, too active to be rediscovered, he’s been subject over the past two decades to some of the unkindest reviews ever delivered to a talent of his magnitude.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2021
"Lydia, you are the unkindest girl—" "Well, then, I will."
From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, September, 1878 by Various
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.
