off-putting

adjective

Definition of off-puttingnext
as in obnoxious
not pleasing or likable; causing you to feel dislike of someone or something He has an off-putting manner. The restaurant's garish décor was off-putting.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of off-putting Bernstine’s every line reading is off-kilter and off-putting, making her worrisome one moment, badass the next, and frequently hilarious. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2026 This may appear as off-putting calcium rings, or cause more extensive damage to the material. — Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 6 July 2026 And yet for God’s sake, just look at the man—at his dispiriting attempts at humor, his weirdly off-putting outfits, his incessant posting of banalities and faux profundities and extreme-right disinformation on social media. — Mark O’Connell, The New York Review of Books, 4 July 2026 Political experts contend that messages that seem contradictory to a candidate’s background, as well as drowning voters with incessant ads, can be jarring and off-putting to the electorate. — Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for off-putting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for off-putting
  1. obnoxious
  2. disgusting
  3. unpleasant
  4. ugly
  5. awful
  6. sickening
  7. shocking
  8. hideous
Adjective
  • Carla is suffering through a press junket for a new spy movie titled The Milliner with her obnoxious co-star, Jeremy (Aaron Tsindos).
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • But others have slammed the effort as a pretentious and obnoxious slog.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of obnoxious
Adjective
  • People tend to think of waste as trash, sewage, slag, manure and other seemingly useless or disgusting substances.
    — Edward D. Melillo, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The better to act out empire’s idea of what disgusting demonic sickness looks like.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of disgusting
Adjective
  • As unpleasant as his job might be at the moment, Harbaugh is ostensibly safe.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Depriving the plant of light discourages the development of chlorophyll—the green plant pigment responsible for color—and rids the chicory of an unpleasant flavor.
    — Tamar Adler, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of unpleasant
Adjective
  • That's on the heels of a 41-7 blowout at Northwestern that was ugly enough for Deion Sanders to dismiss a handful of players for conduct detrimental to the team days later.
    — Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
  • In a world where (good, bad and ugly) answers and options are available, an employer needs a workforce that understands the business objectives and can weed through the noise to identify and execute the best solution.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of ugly
Adjective
  • He was held back by something else, a feeling that some awful truth about his familiar, beloved world was now being revealed to him.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • His death was already sudden and awful, and the call was jarring and unexpected.
    — Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of awful
Adjective
  • Beyond the ugly-duckling implications and the patent objectification and humiliation of women, the show’s portrayal of plastic surgery itself struck me as dark and sort of sickening.
    — Jolene Edgar, Allure, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Perhaps the most sickening part of the entire encounter is that both Oleynik and Kravchenko are seen holding the turtle's hatchlings, posing for photos and smiling as if everything is cool.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of sickening
Adjective
  • The officers shared the shocking recording Wednesday in hopes of identifying the driver, whose license plate cannot be discerned in the clip.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
  • With a little bit of separation from the shocking and utterly devastating news of Dolly the late singer’s death, a clearer view of what actually happened to Parton is starting to emerge.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of shocking
Adjective
  • Another reason to feel supreme confidence in this team’s juggernaut potential is that Chicago’s defense appears to be just as hideous as the fantasy community had hoped.
    — Andy Behrens, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Three seconds later, I was surrounded by hideous monsters who were probably nice kids before the local NBC news devoted the feature story on their prime-time show Weekend to an in-depth study of English punk.
    — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of hideous

Browse Nearby Words

off one's rocker
off-putting
offs
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Cite this Entry

“Off-putting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/off-putting. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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