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Showing results for unkind. Search instead for unkend.
Synonyms

unkind

American  
[uhn-kahynd] / ʌnˈkaɪnd /

adjective

unkinder, unkindest

  1. lacking in kindness or mercy; severe.

unkind British  
/ ʌnˈkaɪnd /

adjective

  1. lacking kindness; unsympathetic or cruel

  2. archaic

    1. (of weather) unpleasant

    2. (of soil) hard to cultivate

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • unkindly adverb
  • unkindness noun

Etymology

Origin of unkind

Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; 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.

But no one here is out to humiliate anyone, which is nasty and unkind and not at all the sort of humor Lawrence trades in.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 8, 2026

This was unkind, for Morison’s is a magnificent example of history as it is no longer written.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 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

Viewers responded to his “DWTS” debut by voicing their concern on social media that he might suffer a heart attack live onstage, which is unkind, but he handled it in stride.

From Salon • Nov. 4, 2025

I wanted to pull him close, hold him, tell him the world had been unkind to him, not the other way around.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

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.