unkindliest
unkindliest is the superlative form of unkindly.
Meaning of unkindly
Adjective
unkindly (comparative more unkindly, superlative most unkindly)
- Not kind, lacking in friendliness, warm-heartedness or sympathy.
- Preceded by the beadle, and attended by an irregular procession of stern-browed men and unkindly visaged women, Hester Prynne set forth towards the place appointed for her punishment.1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 2, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC
- Rough, unfavourable, bad.
- From this superfluous pulp in unkindely, and wet years, may arise that multiplicity of little insects, which infest the Roots and Sprouts of tender Graines and pulses.1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 130
- Unnatural, contrary to the natural or proper order of things.
- That detestable sight him much amazde, / To see th’vnkindly Impes of heauen accurst, / Deuoure their dam;1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 10
Questions about unkindliest
- What is unkindliest the superlative form of?
- Unkindliest is the superlative form of unkindly.
Words near unkindliest in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unkindliest (page history and authors); unkindly (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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Cite this entry: “unkindliest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unkindliest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.