as in unloving
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Recent Examples of unaffectionate
But in conversations with his long-suffering wife Louisa and his stern mother Abigail Adams, a less noble side of the man is laid bare: absentee husband, cold, unaffectionate father and inflexible, unlikable politician.
—
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2020
Seward says Diana told her about her ex-husband's unaffectionate childhood with parents Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
—Simon Perry, PEOPLE.com, 21 Sep. 2020
Kyung, a Korean-American, grew up financially comfortable — surrounded by tutors, music lessons and other markers of success — but in loveless, unaffectionate surroundings.
—Joumana Khatib, New York Times, 11 May 2017
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2020
Seward says Diana told her about her ex-husband's unaffectionate childhood with parents Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
—Simon Perry, PEOPLE.com, 21 Sep. 2020
Kyung, a Korean-American, grew up financially comfortable — surrounded by tutors, music lessons and other markers of success — but in loveless, unaffectionate surroundings.
—Joumana Khatib, New York Times, 11 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unaffectionate
Adjective
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And at its head, always, sits Adele’s husband Caesar (Tommaso Ragno), a stern but not unloving patriarch with the sonorous voice of a man used to being obeyed, who runs the local one-room school where all of his kids, bar his youngest, sickly infant, are taught the same lessons regardless of age.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2024
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Money notwithstanding, another possible explanation for the Fletcher kids’ unhappiness as adults is that their parents were simply bad parents, distant and unloving.—
Adelle Waldman,
The Atlantic,
9 July 2024
Adjective
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Wins Best Film at Critics Awards for Arab Films Far from the bristling emotional potency of Petzold’s previous muse Nina Hoss, Beer can be an aloof, hard-to-read presence.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
17 May 2025
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One of the central conflicts begins when the cute five-year-old daughter, I-Jing (Nina Ye), is reprimanded by her otherwise aloof grandfather for being left-handed.—
Ritesh Mehta,
IndieWire,
14 May 2025
Adjective
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Elon Musk appeared to cast an unfriendly gaze at South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during President Donald Trump’s meeting with the foreign leader on Wednesday.—
Ross O'Keefe,
The Washington Examiner,
21 May 2025
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The more cynical one is that Trump and Musk know this and want to weaponize it to their electoral advantage, intentionally depriving what are understood to be unfriendly voters of their right to to participate in elections with onerous requirements or simply zapping them from the rolls.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Having bounced around uncaring foster homes as a child, Mike maintains minimal contact with his adoptive parents and is skeptical about how much help the authorities can provide with his rehabilitation.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2025
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In recent years, Update has emerged as the most reliable segment in an often-uneven show, as Che and Jost honed their oddball chemistry as an uncaring provocateur paired with a snarky guy willing to parody his own privilege.—
Eric Deggans,
NPR,
18 May 2025
Adjective
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People were pretty indifferent to it in a funny way.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
28 May 2025
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There’s no music, either, to soften or ennoble proceedings, only the indifferent murmur of weather over the startling debris of human conflict, or the slow creak of a galleon on lapping waters as sailors are sent cruelly to their deaths.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
28 May 2025
Adjective
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He isn’t disgusted by sexuality, just innocent and uninterested.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
12 May 2025
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And very worried about our children who seem incapable and uninterested in supporting themselves.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
7 May 2025
Adjective
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As with everything Banksy, siting and context are chief among the avenues of investigation into the man’s intent and into his his hilariously ruthless nocturnal execution of his art.—
Guy Martin,
Forbes.com,
30 May 2025
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The ruthless, physical Panthers will get a strong Oilers squad, with Ekholm back on the back end, Skinner emphatically taking back his net from Calvin Pickard, and both McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on top of their games.—
Daniel Nugent-Bowman,
New York Times,
30 May 2025
Adjective
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The title, in Muslim eschatology, refers to a narrow bridge between Paradise and Hell, which is fitting, insofar as Laxe’s movie is both a nightmarish experience and an exhilarating one—a pitiless ordeal that is nonetheless underpinned by extraordinary love and tenderness.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
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Gilroy drew upon his lifelong study of historical revolutions to inform the show’s interweaving storylines of payroll heists and gulag escapes, street riots and false flag operations, squabbling freedom fighters and pitiless secret police.—
Adam B. Vary,
Variety,
13 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unaffectionate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unaffectionate. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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