unkindly

comparative more unkindly · superlative most unkindly

1. Not kindly.
   1. Not kind, lacking in friendliness, warm-heartedness or sympathy.

      […] she had seen a not unkindly wink pass between the two.

      1906, E. Nesbit, chapter 4, in The Railway Children

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      Preceded by the beadle, and attended by an irregular procession of stern-browed men and unkindly visaged women, Hester Prynne set forth towards the place appointed for her punishment.

      1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 2, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC

   2. archaicRough, unfavourable, bad.

      Unkindly cold and tempest shrill / In life’s morn oft the traveller chill,

      1789, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Anthem for the Children of Christ’s Hospital”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume 1, London: William Pickering, published 1834, page 5

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      From this superfluous pulp in unkindely, and wet years, may arise that multiplicity of little insects, which infest the Roots and Sprouts of tender Graines and pulses.

      1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 130

   3. obsoleteUnnatural, contrary to the natural or proper order of things.

      1678, Robert Sanderson, Nine Cases of Conscience Occasionally Determined, London: H. Brome et al., p. 128, […] the want of mercy in a Father, is more unkindly, more unseemly, more unnatural than in another man […]

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      That detestable sight him much amazde, / To see th’vnkindly Impes of heauen accurst, / Deuoure their dam;

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 10

comparative more unkindly · superlative most unkindly

1. In an unkind manner.

   […] I had over-heard them ſeveral times talking very Unkindly about me; […]

   1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 34

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   Good master, take it not unkindly, pray, / That I have been thus pleasant [i.e. joking] with you both.

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

   If she and John love one another, they can wait, and test the love by doing so. She is conscientious, and I have no fear of her treating him unkindly.

   1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC

   Chester and Prideaux were dragged firmly but not unkindly down the stairs and out through the door.

   1918, Rose Macaulay, chapter 11, in What Not, London: Constable, page 222

2. obsoleteIn an unnatural manner.

   All th’ unaccomplisht works of Natures hand, / Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixt, / Dissolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain, / Till final dissolution, wander here,

   1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 455-458