Word.ws English Dictionary

uncrisp

uncrisp adjective: not possessing firmness and freshness or brittleness (especially of foods).

Adjective

uncrisp (comparative more uncrisp, superlative most uncrisp)

  1. Not possessing firmness and freshness or brittleness (especially of foods).
    • […] if a second crop was taken from the same ground without fertilizing it, the melons would be small and what we called soapy; that is, soft and smooth, utterly uncrisp, and without a trace of the lively freshness and sweetness of those raised on virgin soil.1913, John Muir, chapter 6, in The Story of my Boyhood and Youth,, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 200
    Synonyms:
    limp, soft
  2. Not quick, precise, accurate or well-defined.
    • […] from time to time a sort of unhealthy almost-light leaked from the large uncrisp corpse of the sky, returning for a moment to our view the ruined landscape.1922, E. E. Cummings, chapter 12, in The Enormous Room, New York: Boni and Liveright, page 250
    Synonyms:
    messy, sloppy, blurry
  3. (dated) Not curling in stiff curls or ringlets (of hair).
    • His light brown hair fell, in thin, uncrisp locks, about his white, prominent temples,1855, Mary Anna Needell, chapter 2, in Catherine Irving, volume 1, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, pages 35–36
    Synonyms:
    straight

Verb

uncrisp (third-person singular simple present uncrisps, present participle uncrisping, simple past and past participle uncrisped)

  1. (intransitive) To become less or not crisp.
    • [The] metal [of the coach], jouncing on the track, massaged his behind and his pants, uncrisping, were as wet from the mangy dog as from the sweat pouring out between his legs.1978, Doris Schwerin, chapter 1, in Leanna,, New York: William Morrow, page 14
  2. (dated, transitive) To stop contorting or tensing (a part of one's body); to cause to be no longer contorted or tensed.
    • When his miserable life is over they lay him out—that is, they pull his legs, and try to uncrisp his fingers,1858, George Augustus Sala, chapter 12, in A Journey Due North,, London: Richard Bentley, page 189
    • She also lay white and twisting on a couch, crisping and uncrisping her little hands.1900, Maurice Hewlett, The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay, London: Macmillan, Book 2, Chapter 4, p. 265
    Synonyms:
    relax, straighten
  3. (dated, intransitive) To stop being contorted or tensed (of a part of the body).
    • She saw his fingers uncrisp, then grip the shelf again.1919, John Galsworthy, Saint’s Progress, New York: Scribner, Part 3, Chapter 3, p. 252
    Synonyms:
    relax
  4. (archaic, transitive) To stop (something) from rippling or undulating.
    • Behold your Neptune, with his Trident there,
      Vncrisps the Billows, smoothing them like Glass;1683, Thomas Shipman, “An Hystorick Poem”, in Carolina, or, Loyal Poems, London: Samuel Heyrick and William Crook, page 61

Synonyms of uncrisp

Forms of uncrisp

Adjective
comparativemore uncrisp
superlativemost uncrisp
Verb
third-person singular presentuncrisps
present participleuncrisping
past participleuncrisped
pastuncrisped

Origin of uncrisp

From un- + crisp.

Questions about uncrisp

What does uncrisp mean?
Uncrisp means not possessing firmness and freshness or brittleness (especially of foods).
What part of speech is uncrisp?
Uncrisp can be an adjective or a verb.

Words near uncrisp in the dictionary

  1. uncrinkling
  2. uncripple
  3. uncrippled
  4. uncripples
  5. uncrippling
  6. uncrisp
  7. uncrisped
  8. uncrisping
  9. uncrisps
  10. uncritical
  11. uncritically

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: uncrisp (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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