different between unsisterly vs unsisterliness

English

Etymology

un- +? sisterly

Adjective

unsisterly (comparative more unsisterly, superlative most unsisterly)

1. Not sisterly; not befitting a sister.
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Volume I, Letter 43,^[1]

     […] I desire I may throw myself at my father’s and mother’s feet, and hear from them what their sentence is. I shall at least avoid, by that means, the unsisterly insults I meet with from you.

   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter 6,^[2]

     Mary was not so repulsive and unsisterly as Elizabeth, nor so inaccessible to all influence of hers […]

   • 1911, Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Story Girl, Chapter 1,^[3]

     Felicity tossed her golden head and shot an unsisterly glance at Dan.

Derived terms

• unsisterliness

English

Etymology

unsisterly +? -ness

Noun

unsisterliness (uncountable)

1. The state or quality of being unsisterly.
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Volume I, Letter 42,^[1]

     Don’t let me be surprised at your seeming unsisterliness, Bella. I hope it is but seeming. There can be no wit in such jesting as this.

   • 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, Chapter IV. Legends,^[2]

     Never did four walls look down upon an uglier spectacle than these sisters rivalling in unsisterliness.

   • 1926, Abbie Graham, Grace H. Dodge, Merchant of Dreams, New York: The Womans Press, Chapter 5, pp. 105-106,^[3]

     There must have been a great deal of patronage towards these working girls, especially among groups of older women, or else Grace Dodge would not have so frequently warned women against the unsisterliness of patronage.