Meaning & use
unfriendly
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Not kind or welcoming toward other people; cold in manner.
Grammar: Gradable: you can be unfriendlier or more unfriendly, and 'to' introduces the person.
Patterns
- unfriendly to someone
- unfriendly toward someone
- an unfriendly welcome
The waiter was polite but distinctly unfriendly.
She seemed unfriendly at first, though she warmed up later.
He was unfriendly to the new students for no clear reason.
adjectivecomparable
Not suitable or helpful for a particular activity or group.
Grammar: Often used in compounds like 'user-unfriendly'; here 'to' or 'for' introduces who or what suffers.
Patterns
- unfriendly to something
- environmentally unfriendly
The new software is unfriendly to beginners.
These old factories are environmentally unfriendly.
Word forms
| comparative | unfriendlier |
|---|---|
| superlative | unfriendliest |
| comparative | more unfriendly |
| superlative | most unfriendly |
Common combinations
- unfriendly to someone
- He was openly unfriendly to the visitors.
- an unfriendly atmosphere
- The meeting had a rather unfriendly atmosphere.
- environmentally unfriendly
- Plastic packaging is often environmentally unfriendly.
- user-unfriendly
- The website is slow and user-unfriendly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hostile
- Hostile is much stronger and suggests real aggression or opposition; unfriendly often just means a lack of warmth.
- cold
- Cold describes a distant, unemotional manner; unfriendly can also suggest active dislike.
- unwelcoming
- Unwelcoming focuses on how a place or person makes you feel on arrival, not on general attitude.
Opposites
Word family
- friendliness noun
- The quality of being kind and pleasant to others.
- unfriendliness noun
- The quality of being cold or unkind toward others.
- friendly adjective
- Kind and pleasant toward others.
Commonly confused: unfriendly or unfriend?
unfriendly vs unfriend
'Unfriend' is a verb meaning to remove someone from your list of contacts on social media; it is not a synonym for 'unfriendly'.
Practice
The manager was polite but ___ to the new interns.
Choose one answer.
An adjective is needed after 'was', and 'unfriendly' fits the pattern 'unfriendly to someone'. 'Unfriend' is a verb, 'unfriendliness' a noun, and 'unfriendlily' is not a standard word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unfriendly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.