Meanings
- dateduncountableUnkindness.
Lord Walderhurst gazed at her through the monocle with an air he sometimes had of taking her measure without either unkindliness or particular interest.
1909, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Emily Fox-Seton - archaicuncountableUnfavourableness.
Luxury did not spoil her; and any one that saw her in the soft furs of her winter wrappings, would have said that delicate cheek and frame were never made to know the unkindliness of harsher things.
1854, Elizabeth Wetherell, Queechy, Volume I - obsoleteuncountableUnnaturalness.
Origin
- Middle Englishwnkyndlynes“unnatural hostility or wickedness”
- Englishunkindliness
From Middle English wnkyndlynes (“unnatural hostility or wickedness”); equivalent to unkindly + -ness.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
unkindliness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unkindliness
“unkindliness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unkindliness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unkindliness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unkindliness.
Source: unkindliness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.