Word.ws English Dictionary

stand-offishness

stand-offishness is the alternative form of standoffishness.

Meaning of standoffishness

Noun

standoffishness (uncountable)

  1. The state, quality, or condition of being standoffish or aloof and unsociable; aloofness.
    • Many of the seemingly bizarre courtship practices of English males—the cautiousness, reserve and apparent stand-offishness that foreign females complain about—are characteristic features of ‘negative politeness’.2004, Kate Fox, “Rules of Sex”, in Watching the English, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 336

Origin of stand-offishness

From stand-offish + -ness.

Questions about stand-offishness

What is stand-offishness the alternative form of?
Stand-offishness is the alternative form of standoffishness.

Words near stand-offishness in the dictionary

  1. stand-in
  2. stand-ins
  3. stand-off
  4. stand-offish
  5. stand-offishly
  6. stand-offishness
  7. stand-offs
  8. stand-out
  9. stand-point
  10. stand-points
  11. stand-to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stand-offishness (page history and authors); standoffishness (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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