different between unfriendly vs unexcitable

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?f??n(d)li/

Etymology 1

From Middle English unfrendly, unfrendli, unfrendely, from Old English *unfr?ondl?? (suggested by derivative unfr?ondl??e (“in an unfriendly manner; unfriendly”, adverb)), equivalent to un- +? friendly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uunfrüntelk, uunfjuntelk (“unfriendly”), West Frisian ûnfreonlik (“unfriendly”), Dutch onvriendelijk (“unfriendly”), German Low German unfrünnelk (“unfriendly”), German unfreundlich (“unfriendly”), Faroese ófryntligur (“unfriendly”), Icelandic ófrýnilegur (“ugly; disturbing”).

Adjective

unfriendly (comparative unfriendlier or more unfriendly, superlative unfriendliest or most unfriendly)

1. Not friendly; hostile; mean.
2. Unfavourable.

Antonyms

• friendly

Derived terms

• user-unfriendly

Related terms

• unfriend

Translations

Noun

unfriendly (plural unfriendlies)

1. An enemy.
   • 2005, Ted Dekker, Thunder of Heaven (page 217)

     Sweep the valley compound and eliminate any unfriendlies you encounter.

   • 2008, Dennis Wengert, A Very Healthy Insanity (page 44)

     You see, the mission of almost every teenage girl on the loose is to first identify the targets, just like a war. These include the primary objective (the boy), the enemy (other girls), the friendlies (sympathetic girl friends and the boy's family), and unfriendlies (other boys).

Etymology 2

From Middle English unfrendli, from Old English unfr?ondl??e (“in an unfriendly manner”), equivalent to unfriend +? -ly.

Adverb

unfriendly (comparative unfriendlier or more unfriendly, superlative unfriendliest or most unfriendly)

1. in an unkind or unfriendly manner; not as a friend

English

Etymology

From un- +? excitable.

Adjective

unexcitable (comparative more unexcitable, superlative most unexcitable)

1. Not excitable, not easily excited.
   • 1889, Frank R. Stockton, The Great War Syndicate, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., p. 55,^[1]

     Ordinarily the commandant of the fort was of a calm and unexcitable temperament. During the astounding events of that day and the day before he had kept his head cool; his judgment, if not correct, was the result of sober and earnest consideration.

   • 1957, Muriel Spark, The Comforters, London: Macmillan, Chapter Seven,

     […] he remembered how terse and unexcitable the jeweller was, so different from those gem-dealers who, meeting with each other on the pavements at Hatton Garden, could not contain for two seconds their business verve, nor refrain from displaying there and then their tiny precious wares, produced out of waistcoat pockets and wrapped in tissue paper.

   Synonyms: cool-headed, even-tempered

2. Not capable of being excited.
   • 1664, Henry More, A Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity, London: W. Morden, Book II, Chapter 7, p. 128,^[2]

     But suppose that these pretended living Stones of the Temple of God were as unexcitable to Pride or Lust as the dead Stones of the walls of a Church […]

   • 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, London: J. Johnson, Volume I, Section 12, 2. Of sensorial Exertion, p. 79,^[3]

     When the spirit of animation is thus exhausted by useless exertions, the organ becomes torpid or unexcitable into action, and a second fit of quiescence succeeds that of abundant activity.

   • 1835, Catharine Sedgwick, The Linwoods, New York: Harper & Brothers, Volume 2, Chapter , p. 222,^[4]

     Isabella […] had been misled, as most inexperienced observers are in similar cases, by the tranquillity of Eliot’s manner; she respected and liked him exceedingly; but she thought him unexcitable, and incapable of passion.

Translations