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:
You never had an unkind word or a sour expression for anyone, and you always displayed exemplary conduct, despite all the challenges you faced.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
On the surface, there were no signs that you were incompatible: no unkind remarks, no competitiveness, no constant canceling or being constantly late.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 25, 2026
It’s the sort of line that doesn’t stand up to an unkind reading.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
"They've said some very unkind things about Britain, and also about the monarchy."
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
But Ophie mostly knew who it was by the words the men were saying: words that were unkind at their heart, the kind of words that bruised and jabbed just by being spoken.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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
The new low, low hemline has been officially named the Midi, but many fashionplates have unkinder words for it.
From Time Magazine Archive
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 unkinder wits of the neighbourhood had been known to suggest that the first letter of its name was superfluous.
From Beasts and Super-Beasts by Saki
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
Like other prestige dramas' unkindest deaths, it may serve a higher purpose.
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2025
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
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
Now this was the "most unkindest cut of all;" for if report spoke truly, Mr. Kennyfeck had himself experienced from that gentleman a species of moral force impulsion which left the most unpleasant reminiscences behind.
From Roland Cashel Volume I (of II) by Charles James Lever
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
