as in unloving
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
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 unaffectionate
But in conversations with his long-suffering wife Louisa and his stern mother Abigail Adams, a less noble side of the man is laid bare: absentee husband, cold, unaffectionate father and inflexible, unlikable politician.
—
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2020
Seward says Diana told her about her ex-husband's unaffectionate childhood with parents Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
—Simon Perry, PEOPLE.com, 21 Sep. 2020
Kyung, a Korean-American, grew up financially comfortable — surrounded by tutors, music lessons and other markers of success — but in loveless, unaffectionate surroundings.
—Joumana Khatib, New York Times, 11 May 2017
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2020
Seward says Diana told her about her ex-husband's unaffectionate childhood with parents Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
—Simon Perry, PEOPLE.com, 21 Sep. 2020
Kyung, a Korean-American, grew up financially comfortable — surrounded by tutors, music lessons and other markers of success — but in loveless, unaffectionate surroundings.
—Joumana Khatib, New York Times, 11 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unaffectionate
Adjective
-
Felix, whose childhood is revealed to have been unloving and unstable, seems to see in Jess something like instant security: not just a warm person with a home that’s much more welcoming than his chaotic squat full of eco-warriors, but an insta-family.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
17 July 2025
-
And at its head, always, sits Adele’s husband Caesar (Tommaso Ragno), a stern but not unloving patriarch with the sonorous voice of a man used to being obeyed, who runs the local one-room school where all of his kids, bar his youngest, sickly infant, are taught the same lessons regardless of age.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2024
Adjective
-
Watson was accused of being aloof and out of touch and the team’s management was publicly roasted by a furious Phil Mickelson in the Sunday night press conference.—
Don Riddell,
CNN Money,
25 Sep. 2025
-
In fact, despite playing one of her most aloof characters yet, the real Roberts starts to tear up when Sevigny talks about admiring her.—
Ramin Setoodeh,
Variety,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Zonal reinforcements fend off unfriendly rocks, stumps and features, and a Vibram Megagrip sole clenches all kinds of slippery, unbalanced raw ground.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
21 Sep. 2025
-
And in the nonprofit sector, timing can be notoriously unfriendly.—
Sherry Quam Taylor,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Lady Luck and Mister Fate can be a mean couple, uncaring of you or me.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
16 Sep. 2025
-
Thompson starred in DaCosta’s debut feature Little Woods, a thoughtful, emotional thriller about two sisters just trying to survive in an expensive, uncaring world.—
Jourdain Searles,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
If the script is a tad heavy-handed in making Clara seem almost indifferent to her mother’s suffering, Touzani is too generous a director not to allow the character some redeeming displays of conscience before the domestic drama plays out.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Oct. 2025
-
The private remark reinforced a sense, even among conservatives, that the wealthy businessman was an out-of-touch elitist who was ready to write-off about half the country as indifferent to his economic agenda.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Sadly, our country’s leaders appear to be wholly uninterested in raising more generations of empathetic children, much less helping immigrant children and families to feel safe and welcomed in their new homeland.—
Priscilla Blossom,
Time,
2 Oct. 2025
-
But the Tigers look uninterested in taking a step back after losing quarterback Brady Cook and receiver Luther Burden III.—
David Ubben,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Their methods—ruthless melodic math, brazenly artificial production, and an odd soft spot for reggae rhythms—helped define the world-conquering sound of Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
3 Oct. 2025
-
To play someone whose world is so beautiful on the surface but whose secrets are ruthless has been an exhilarating challenge.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The film’s only real villain is Al Pacino, doing a Colonel Sanders accent as Richard’s father M.L. Hall, whose pitiless rigidity stands in for capitalism as a whole.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Each failure rekindled the gravitational pull of an existential, pitiless struggle.—
Hussein Agha,
New Yorker,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unaffectionate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unaffectionate. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share