unpretentious

unpretentious

adjective

Definition of UNPRETENTIOUS

1

free from any intent to deceive or impress others <a simple and unpretentious account about growing up in the rural South>

Synonyms artless, genuine, honest, ingenuous, innocent, naive (or naïve), natural, real, simple, sincere, true, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious

Related Words childlike, dewy-eyed, gee-whiz, impressionable, inexperienced, malleable, persuadable, persuasible, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly, wide-eyed; spontaneous, unforced, unstudied; candid, direct, frank, free, free-spoken, open, openhearted, plain, plainspoken, single-minded, straight, straightforward, unguarded; trustful, trusting; exploitable, gullible (also gullable), susceptible, unwary

Near Antonyms critical, cynical, mistrustful, skeptical, suspicious, wary; cosmopolitan, sophisticated, worldly, worldly-wise; civilized, cultivated, cultured, polished, refined; crooked, deceitful, deceptive, devious, double-dealing, hypocritical, manipulative, two-faced; arch, calculating, canny, crafty, cunning, designing, foxy, knavish, scheming, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slippery, sly, subtle, tricky, underhanded, wily; flattering, mealymouthed, smooth, sycophantic, unctuous; feigned, forced, strained

Antonyms affected, artful, artificial, assuming, dishonest, dissembling, dissimulating, fake, false, guileful, insincere, phony (also phoney), pretentious

2

not excessively showy <lives in a rather unpretentious house for someone so wealthy>

Synonyms conservative, low-key (also low-keyed), muted, repressed, restrained, sober, subdued, toned-down, understated, unflashy, unpretentious

Related Words appropriate, becoming, fit, fitting, proper, suitable; modest, plain, simple, unadorned, undecorated; inconspicuous, unnoticeable, unobtrusive; graceful, handsome, refined, tasteful; drab, mousy (or mousey); practical, sensible

Near Antonyms meretricious; graceless, inelegant, tacky, tasteless, tawdry, trashy, vulgar; baroque, fancy, frilly, gilded (or gilt), ornate, rococo; overdecorated, overdone, overwrought

Antonyms flamboyant, flaring, flashy, garish, gaudy, glitzy, loud, noisy, ostentatious, razzle-dazzle, splashy, swank (or swanky)

3

not having or showing any feelings of superiority, self-assertiveness, or showiness <the unpretentious disposition of an award-winning scientist who has nothing to prove to anyone>

Synonyms demure, down-to-earth, lowly, meek, modest, unassuming, unpretentious

Related Words acquiescent, compliant, deferential, resigned, submissive, unaggressive, unassertive, yielding; cowering, cringing, shrinking; ingenuous, naive (or naïve), plain, simple, unaffected; bashful, diffident, introverted, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, sheepish, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; aw-shucks, self-deprecating, self-deprecatory, self-effacing

Near Antonyms aggressive, assertive, audacious, bold, brash, brassy, cheeky, forward, impertinent, impudent, saucy; cocksure, cocky, confident, hubristic, overconfident, self-confident; egocentric, egoistic (also egoistical), narcissistic, prideful, self-affected, self-centered, self-complacent, self-conceited, self-congratulatory, self-contented, self-engrossed, self-important, self-obsessed, self-pleased, self-satisfied, smug, stuck-up, swelled-headed; boastful, bombastic, braggy, swaggering, vain, vainglorious; condescending, disdainful, dominant, dominating, domineering, magisterial, overbearing, patronizing, pontificating; flamboyant, ostentatious, showy; extroverted (also extraverted), immodest, outgoing, uninhibited, unreserved

Antonyms arrogant, bumptious, chesty, conceited, egotistic (or egotistical), fastuous, haughty, highfalutin (also hifalutin), high-and-mighty, high-handed, high-hat, hoity-toity, huffish, huffy, imperious, lordly, overweening, peremptory, pompous, presuming, presumptuous, pretentious, self-asserting, self-assertive, supercilious, superior, toplofty (also toploftical), uppish, uppity