Jump to content

Wiktionary The Free Dictionary

standoffish

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: stand-offish

English

Alternative forms

stand-offish

Etymology

Etymology tree

English stand off

Proto-Indo-European *-iskos

Proto-Germanic *-iskaz

Proto-West Germanic *-isk

Old English -isċ

Middle English -isch

English -ish

English standoffish

From stand off + -ish .

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation ) IPA ^(key): /stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/
- Audio (Southern England ): (file)
(Conservative RP) IPA ^(key): /stænˈdɔː.fɪʃ/
(General American ) enPR: ŏf, IPA ^(key): /stænˈdɔ.fɪʃ/
(cot–caught merger ) IPA ^(key): /stænˈdɑ.fɪʃ/
- (/æ/ raising , cot–caught merger ) IPA ^(key): [steənˈdɑ.fɪʃ]

Adjective

standoffish (comparative more standoffish, superlative most standoffish)

Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.
Synonyms: cold , distant ; see also Thesaurus:aloof
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, "The Heart of Darkness", in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine , volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, [...], →OCLC, part I, page 213, columns 1–2:
  He was stand-offish with the other agents. They on their side said he was the manager’s spy upon them.
- 1922 February 2, James Joyce, "[Episode 16: Eumaeus]", in Ulysses , Paris: Shakespeare and Company [...], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 611:
  His initial impression was that he was a bit standoffish or not over effusive [...]
- 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter VII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover , [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC, page 96:
  They were always a haughty family, stand-offish in a way, as they've a right to be.

Derived terms

Translations

unsociable

Bulgarian: сдържан (bg) (sdăržan), резервиран (bg) (rezerviran)
Finnish: kylmäkiskoinen (fi)
German: reserviert (de) , spröde (de) , hochnäsig (de)
Irish: coimhthíoch , doicheallach
Polish: nietowarzyski (pl)
Spanish: huraño (es) m, huraña (es) f, antisocial (es) m or f, arisco (es) m, hosco (es) m, hurón (es) m, apartadizo (es) m

See also

References

"standoffish", in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
"standoffish" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
"standoffish", in Lexico , Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987–1996.

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=standoffish&oldid=90568543"