| Library / English Dictionary |
UNFEELING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Devoid of feeling or sensation
Example:
unfeeling trees
Classified under:
Similar:
insensate; insentient (devoid of feeling and consciousness and animation)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Devoid of feeling for others
Example:
an unfeeling wretch
Synonyms:
hardhearted; stonyhearted; unfeeling
Classified under:
Similar:
uncompassionate (lacking compassion or feeling for others)
Derivation:
unfeelingness (devoid of passion or feeling; hardheartedness)
Context examples:
He seemed really anxious to accommodate them and the whole of his letter was written in so friendly a style as could not fail of giving pleasure to his cousin; more especially at a moment when she was suffering under the cold and unfeeling behaviour of her nearer connections.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
The united efforts of his two unfeeling sisters and of his overpowering friend, assisted by the attractions of Miss Darcy and the amusements of London might be too much, she feared, for the strength of his attachment.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Unfeeling, heartless creator!
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
How inconsiderate, how indelicate, how irrational, how unfeeling had been her conduct!
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I must say it is very unfeeling of him to be running away from his poor little boy.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
To the former her raillery was probably, as far as it regarded only himself, perfectly indifferent; but to the latter it was at first incomprehensible; and when its object was understood, she hardly knew whether most to laugh at its absurdity, or censure its impertinence, for she considered it as an unfeeling reflection on the colonel's advanced years, and on his forlorn condition as an old bachelor.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
But his pride, his abominable pride—his shameless avowal of what he had done with respect to Jane—his unpardonable assurance in acknowledging, though he could not justify it, and the unfeeling manner in which he had mentioned Mr. Wickham, his cruelty towards whom he had not attempted to deny, soon overcame the pity which the consideration of his attachment had for a moment excited.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
I turned with loathing from the woman who could utter so unfeeling a speech to a person just saved, on the very edge of death; but I felt languid and unable to reflect on all that had passed.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Mrs Smith had been carried away from her first direction, and Anne had forgotten, in the interest of her own family concerns, how much had been originally implied against him; but her attention was now called to the explanation of those first hints, and she listened to a recital which, if it did not perfectly justify the unqualified bitterness of Mrs Smith, proved him to have been very unfeeling in his conduct towards her; very deficient both in justice and compassion.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
He had, in fact, though his sisters were now doing all they could for him, by calling him poor Richard, been nothing better than a thick-headed, unfeeling, unprofitable Dick Musgrove, who had never done anything to entitle himself to more than the abbreviation of his name, living or dead.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
