Sore-thumbish

adj, slang

adj, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Distinct in a way that draws negative attention; out of place; conspicuous. idiomatic, informal

    "Many of the serious bits, by contrast, were slow and sore-thumbish, abounding in what the New Yorker used to call cries we doubt ever got cried, like 'that man Robespierre will go far.'"

Example

More examples

"Many of the serious bits, by contrast, were slow and sore-thumbish, abounding in what the New Yorker used to call cries we doubt ever got cried, like 'that man Robespierre will go far.'"

Etymology

sore thumb + -ish; after the phrase stick out like a sore thumb.

More for "sore-thumbish"

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.