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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

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.

Unkind comments from viewers of the clip appeared on YouTube and M.L.B.’s site.

From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2014

Unkind are pictures of bewhiskered, bejuleped col- onels.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unkind Senators chortled last week over the first prattfall of their new presiding officer, conscientious Henry Agard Wallace.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unkind critics even charged Conductor Stokowski with "childish display," with having contracted the David Belasco show-off virus.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unkind thoughts were my worst offense against them, and those I kept to myself, so why do they recoil?

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

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.