unmaternaladj.
/ˌʌnməˈtəːnl/, U.S. /ˌənməˈtərn(ə)l/ Not maternal; unmotherly; not having or showing feelings characteristic of a mother.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > motherhood > [adjective] > unmotherly
unmotherlya1586
unmaternal1761
1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph I. 136 Lady Grimston appears to treat her with a distance very unmaternal.
1795 A. M. Mackenzie Myst. Elucidated III. x. 170 Ungratified in the hope of seeing the unmaternal Queen Regent deprived of the authority she had so wretchedly abused.
1821 P. B. Shelley Epipsychidion 8 Thy panting, wounded breast Stains with dear blood its unmaternal nest!
1885 tr. A. Monad Let. 30 June 1824 in Life & Lett. i. 17 You only wished to try me, and not seriously to give me such unmaternal advice.
1912 Atlantic Monthly May 650/1 His penetrative imagination..might shadow forth for us, in that dark way of his, the still emotions of those locked hearts; that inexorable mother's unmaternal hardness.
1997 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 13 July 8/2 Katharine, McCormick's mother, a singularly unmaternal woman who bribed her grown children to visit her.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1761- to draw sail
- to draw short and long
- to draw shrink one's horns
- to draw something into
- to draw spread the wool over a person's eyes
- to draw spread the wool over eyes
- to draw stakes
- to draw straws
- to draw stumps
- to draw the badger
- to draw the board
- to draw the cloth
- to draw the crabs
- to draw the curtain
- to draw the fangs from
- to draw the fangs of
- to draw the fangs out of
- to draw the line
- to draw the line at
- to draw the line between
- to draw the long bow
- to draw the pole
- to draw the saw
- to draw the saw of contention
- to draw the saw of controversy