unbecoming

unbecoming

English

Etymology

un- +‎ becoming

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌnbɪˈkʌmɪŋ/

Adjective

unbecoming (comparative more unbecoming, superlative most unbecoming)

1. Not flattering, attractive or appropriate.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 3, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 25:

     A very small expensive black toque was hideously unbecoming to the yellow, toad-like face beneath it.

   She wore a rather unbecoming hairstyle.

2. Not in keeping with the expected standards of one's position.

   He was accused of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

Synonyms

• unsuitable
• unfit
• indecent
• indecorous
• improper

Antonyms

• becoming
• befitting
• suiting

Related terms

• unbecomingly
• unbecomingness

Translations

not attractive

Finnish: mauton (fi)

Maori: hake

not in keeping with expected standards

Finnish: sopimaton (fi) Greek: Ancient: ἀπρεπής (aprepḗs)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Scottish Gaelic: (please verify) mì-cheanalta

Verb

unbecoming

1. present participle of unbecome

Noun

unbecoming (plural unbecomings)

1. The process by which something unbecomes.
   • 2007, Una Chung, Contagion of Living

     By tracing the turns from U.S. to Japan to China, we can see that becoming American, the classic ethnic American narrative, itself opens to further becomings and unbecomings and rebecomings that address mobility and ethnicization […]

Further reading

• unbecoming in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• unbecoming in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• unbecoming at OneLook Dictionary Search