Meanings
- rareuncountableSynonym of unkindness.
But he heard the words [Ronald] Reagan said when he made a speech standing just a few yards from the Berlin Wall, which had come to symbolize for the world the nonfreedom and nonkindness of communism:[…]
2001, Peggy Noonan, “Big Triumph”, in When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan, Viking, →ISBN, page 2962 more examples
That this is true needs no words of science to verify, for those who have been through such experience and know the awful sinking of bodily energies which follows lasting grief, not so much the pain of bereavement as of daily harshness, crossing and unkindness—or nonkindness—the mere lack of affection.
1893 July 27, “Loneliness a Cause of Cancer”, in Port Huron Daily Times, volume 21, number 6,578, Port Huron, Mich., page 4, column 4If the person smiled, certain traits such as humor, honesty, and kindness were mentioned in the Ss’ characterizations, but, if the person did not smile, then the traits that were mentioned were high in dishonesty, nonkindness, and impersonality.
1974, Manas: A Journal of Scientific Psychology, volume 21, page 8Synonyms: unkindness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of unkindness.
Origin
- Middle Englishnonkendenes
- Englishnonkindness
From Middle English nonkendenes (attested as the collective noun for ravens; cf. unkindness); equivalent to non- + kindness.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
nonkindness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonkindness
“nonkindness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonkindness. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nonkindness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nonkindness.
Source: nonkindness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.