English

Adjective

unkind ‎(comparative unkinder or more unkind, superlative unkindest or most unkind)

1. (obsolete) Having no race or kindred; childless.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

2. Not kind; contrary to nature or type; unnatural. [From 13thC.]
3. Lacking kindness, sympathy, benevolence, gratitude, or similar; cruel, harsh or unjust; ungrateful. [From mid-14thC.]
   • 1950 July 3, Politicians Without Politics, Life, page 16,

     Despite the bursitis, Dewey got in a good round of golf, though his cautious game inspired a reporter to make one of the week′s unkindest remarks: “He plays golf like he plays politics — straight down the middle, and short.”

   • 1974, Laurence William Wylie, Village in the Vaucluse, 3rd Edition, page 175,

     We had to learn that to refuse such gifts, which represented serious sacrifice, was more unkind than to accept them.

   • 2000, Edward W. Said, On Lost Causes, in Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, page 540,

     In the strictness with which he holds this view he belongs in the company of the novelists I have cited, except that he is unkinder and less charitable than they are.

Derived terms

• unkindest cut

Related terms

• unkindly
• unkindness

Anagrams

• nudnik