different between clownish vs surly

English

Etymology

From clown +? -ish.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kla?n??/

Adjective

clownish (comparative more clownish, superlative most clownish)

1. Resembling or characteristic of a circus clown; comical, ridiculous.
   • 1998, Bryan Senn, Drums of Terror: Voodoo in the Cinema

     Even worse, the zombies' clownish makeup, with a stark white base and black shoe polish around the eyes, looks amateurish.

   • 2014, Jacob Steinberg, "Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian, 9 March 2014:

     Once again, City's defending was clownish. James McArthur drove into the area on the left and pulled a low cross towards the far post, where the horribly timid Gaël Clichy allowed Perch to bundle the ball past Costel Pantilimon.

   • 2005, Laura Barton, The Guardian, 14 May 2005:

     Indeed, when in close quarters to Rooney, it must prove almost irresistible to stick a plastic moustache and silly clownish shoes on the potato-headed fool.

2. (now rare) Pertaining to peasants; rustic.
3. (now rare) Uncultured, boorish; rough, coarse.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

     Large were his limbes, and terrible his looke, / And in his clownish hand a sharp bore speare he shooke.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume I, Chapter 4:

     "He is very plain, undoubtedly—remarkably plain:—but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air. I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."

Derived terms

• clownishness

Translations

English

Etymology

16th-century alteration of sirly, from sir +? -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??li/
• Rhymes: -??(r)li

Adjective

surly (comparative surlier, superlative surliest)

1. Irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly.
2. Threatening, menacing, gloomy.

   The surly weather put us all in a bad mood.

3. (obsolete) Lordly, arrogant, supercilious.

Derived terms

• surliness

Translations

Adverb

surly (comparative surlier, superlative surliest)

1. (obsolete) In an arrogant or supercilious manner.
   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, I.iii,

     Against the Capitol I met a lion / Who glazed upon me, and went surly by / Without annoying me […]

Middle English

Adverb

surly

1. Alternative form of surely