Standoffishness

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state, quality, or condition of being standoffish or aloof and unsociable; aloofness. uncountable

    "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’."

  2. 2
    a disposition to be distant and unsympathetic in manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aloofnessaloofnesschillcoldnessconstraintdetachment

Example

More examples

"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’."

Etymology

From standoffish + -ness.

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