unfriendly

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ʌnˈfɹɛn(d)li/ See IPA manual

Freq #22144

Meanings

1

adj
Not kind or welcoming; behaving in a cold or hostile way.

The new neighbours seemed cold and unfriendly.
2

adj
Not easy to understand or use.

The website has a very unfriendly design.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · not kind or welcoming;... hostile cold inimical

Opposites

friendly

Word family

Forms unfriendlierunfriendliest

Derived forms eco-unfriendlyuser-unfriendly

Related forms unfriend

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

unfriendly act
An action that shows hostility or a lack of goodwill.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English unfrendly, unfrendli, unfrendely, from Old English *unfrēondlīċ (suggested by derivative unfrēondlīċe (“in an unfriendly manner; unfriendly”, adverb)), equivalent to un- + friendly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uunfrüntelk, uunfjuntelk (“unfriendly”), West Frisian ûnfreonlik (“unfriendly”), Dutch onvriendelijk (“unfriendly”), German Low German unfrünnelk (“unfriendly”), German unfreundlich (“unfriendly”), Faroese ófryntligur (“unfriendly”), Icelandic ófrýnilegur (“ugly; disturbing”).

unfrendly Middle English *unfrēondlīċ Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# unfriendly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ʌnˈfɹɛn(d)li/
**Frequency rank:** 22144

## Meanings
1. Not kind or welcoming; behaving in a cold or hostile way.
2. Not easy to understand or use.

## Examples
- The new neighbours seemed cold and unfriendly.
- The website has a very unfriendly design.

## Antonyms
- friendly

## Derived Forms
- eco-unfriendly
- user-unfriendly

## Related Forms
- unfriend

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: unfrendly
- Root: *unfrēondlīċ

## Etymology
From Middle English unfrendly, unfrendli, unfrendely, from Old English *unfrēondlīċ (suggested by derivative unfrēondlīċe (“in an unfriendly manner; unfriendly”, adverb)), equivalent to un- + friendly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uunfrüntelk, uunfjuntelk (“unfriendly”), West Frisian ûnfreonlik (“unfriendly”), Dutch onvriendelijk (“unfriendly”), German Low German unfrünnelk (“unfriendly”), German unfreundlich (“unfriendly”), Faroese ófryntligur (“unfriendly”), Icelandic ófrýnilegur (“ugly; disturbing”).

## AI Etymology
Unfriendly is from Middle English unfrendly, unfrendli, unfrendely, from Old English *unfrēondlīċ (suggested by derivative unfrēondlīċe (“in an unfriendly manner; unfriendly”, adverb)), equivalent to un- + friendly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uunfrüntelk, uunfjuntelk (“unfriendly”), West Frisian ûnfreonlik (“unfriendly”), Dutch onvriendelijk (“unfriendly”), German Low German unfrünnelk (“unfriendly”), German unfreundlich (“unfriendly”), Faroese ófryntligur (“unfriendly”), Icelandic ófrýnilegur (“ugly; disturbing”).

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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