Unseemly
adj, adv
adj, adv ·3 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Inconsistent with established standards of good form or taste.
"He was drunk and made some very unseemly comments."
Adjective
- 1 not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society wordnet
Adverb
- 1 In an unseemly manner.
"[…] [Charitie] Doeth not behaue it selfe vnseemly, seeketh not her owne, is not easily prouoked, thinketh no euill,"
Example
More examples"My grandmother thinks it's unseemly for me to be dating my history professor."
Etymology
From Middle English unsemli, probably a partial calque of Old Norse úsǽmiligr (“unseemly”); equivalent to un- + seemly. Cognate with Icelandic ósæmileg (“offensive”), Norwegian usømmelig (“unseemly”), Danish usømmelig (“unseemly”), German unziemlich.
Related phrases
More for "unseemly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.