standoffish

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See also: stand-offish

English

Alternative forms

stand-offish

Etymology

From stand off +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(Conservative RP) IPA^(key): /stænˈdɔː.fɪʃ/
(General American) enPR: ŏf, IPA^(key): /stænˈdɔ.fɪʃ/
(cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /stænˈdɑ.fɪʃ/
- (æ-tensing, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key):

Adjective

standoffish (comparative more standoffish, superlative most standoffish)

Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, , →OCLC, part I, page 213, columns 1–2:
  He was stand-offish with the other agents. They on their side said he was the manager’s spy upon them.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 611:
  His initial impression was that he was a bit standoffish or not over effusive […]
- 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter VII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, : Privately printed, →OCLC, page 96:
  They were always a haughty family, stand-offish in a way, as they've a right to be.

Synonyms

cold
distant

Derived terms

Translations

unsociable

Bulgarian: сдържан (bg) (sdǎržan), резервиран (bg) (rezerviran)
Finnish: kylmäkiskoinen (fi)
German: reserviert (de), spröde (de), hochnäsig (de)
Irish: coimhthíoch, doicheallach
Spanish: huraño (es) m, huraña (es) f, antisocial (es) m or f, arisco (es) m, hosco (es) m, hurón (es) m, apartadizo (es) m

See also

References

“standoffish”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
"standoffish" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
“standoffish”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987–1996.

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