unobtrusive
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unobtrusive
Explanation
Use the adjective unobtrusive to describe something that doesn’t attract much attention, like an unobtrusive waiter who doesn't interrupt diners to rattle off the nightly specials, or an unobtrusive stain on the floor that your parents haven't noticed. When you need to blend in, look to the word unobtrusive, which is pronounced "un-ob-TROO-sive." Unobtrusive can describe anyone — or anything — that is not very noticeable, such as the unobtrusive black parka that makes you look more or less like everyone else on the city streets in winter, or the unobtrusive security cameras at your bank.
Vocabulary lists containing unobtrusive
To Kill a Mockingbird
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Grade 10, List 5
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Power Prefix: un-
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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.
The idea is that computing will be ambient but unobtrusive, there when you need it, but not when you don’t.
From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026
Instead of narration, unobtrusive captions appeared on screen with price, provenance or other details about various market items, leaving room for the ambient sounds to come to the fore.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
She won gold in the Wellness category at the Stoperiet Open bodybuilding competition in April - a category which places special emphasis on natural fitness, healthy appearance and unobtrusive beauty, rather than large muscle mass.
From BBC • Nov. 11, 2025
I was drawn to the Light Phone because it was arguably the most minimalist version available; it barely resembled a phone at all, and was so strikingly unobtrusive compared to my old needy iPhone.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2025
Shirt off, Herbie sat on a bench at a front-yard picnic table browsing through old Time magazines while Stephanie puttered around, doing her unobtrusive thing.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
