unpleasantadj.

c1430 in Jrnl. Eng. & Germanic Philol. (1907) 7 107 (MED) Ek pyis vnplesaunt to myn pay Þey iangeledyn & made gret difray.

a1500 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (Hunterian) (1980) ii. 305 Wretthe & inpacience and hastynesse, makyth man & woman vnplesaunt & withoutyn loue.

1528 T. Wyatt tr. Plutarch Quyete of Mynde sig. b.ij^v Without any token of vnplesaunt sauour.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ecclus. xxii. 6 Euen so is the..doctryne of wyszdome euer vnpleasaunt vnto fooles.

1551 W. Turner New Herball 109 The colour is vnpleasanter and blacker.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iii. i. 69 b An euill fauoured and vnpleasant harmonie.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. ii. 249 The vnpleasant'st words that euer blotted paper. View more context for this quotation

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica vii. vii. 350 Mandrakes afford a papaverous and unpleasant odour. View more context for this quotation

1668 J. Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 39 Does not the eye pass from an unpleasant object to a pleasant in a much shorter time then is requir'd to this?

c1721 Marquis of Tullibardine Let. in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Earl of Eglinton (1885) 126 in Parl. Papers 1884–5 (C. 4575) XLIV. 1 Tho' your Majesty permitts me to wryte even on ane unpleasant subject.

1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World ii. 79 Innumberable Rills..falling from the Clifts, making a barbarous and unpleasant Sound.

1796 F. Burney Camilla IV. viii. i. 223 The aspect of Mrs. Mittin..was..unpleasant to him.

1839 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) III. xxvi. 419 To execute a commission which would require them to deliver many unpleasant truths.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 466 All of us..had an unpleasant feeling at hearing them say this.

1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 103 A dilute solution..changes the colour of the image to a not unpleasant brown.

1949 Good Housek. (N.Y.) Nov. 135/1 Have you ever used an air freshener—a special product that camouflages unpleasant odors with clean countrylike scents?

1977 S. Sontag Illness as Metaphor viii. 65 Unpleasant side effects of treatment are advertised, indeed overadvertised.

1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (new ed.) v. 93 It is unwise to rent or buy a building without first having a survey done; you might have unpleasant surprises later.

2000 M. Blair Ceramic Water Closets 14 (caption) Cleaning the voids between bowl and trap was an unpleasant task.

1558 F. Withers tr. J. ab Indagine Briefe Introd. Art Chiromancy i. viii. sig. f.iii They be of an vnplesant conuersation & life, deliting in no kind of wisdom or learning.

1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. xxi. 263 If a person of a facile nature and gentle disposition fall into their hands he is presently sowred and made morose, unpleasant, and uneasy in his conversation.

1712 Spectator No. 408. ⁋4 It would be no unpleasant Notion, to consider the several Species of Brutes, into which we may imagine that Tyrants..might be changed.

1768 Public Advertiser 1 Sept. In his Assertions..there is something really not unpleasant... It puts me in Mind of the Consulship which Caligula intended for his Horse.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 651 And he againe, who is too too sober, and abstinent altogether, becommeth unpleasant and unsociable.

1654 T. Gataker Disc. Apol. 43 These Digressions..will not be unpleasing to a Reader of no over-rigid and unpleasant Disposition.

1780 J. Brett tr. B. J. Feijóo y Montenegro Ess. II. xvii. 167 Among the professors of literature, there are not a few, who make themselves unpleasant companions.

1787 Hist. Captain & Miss Rivers I. 6 The Earl..forgave his daughter-in-law her unplesant temper, on the consideration of her having brought the Viscount a princely fortune.

1821 C. G. Ward Orphan Boy xxxix. 393 She is a very unpleasant woman.

1884 Harper's Mag. May 908/1 But the Scotch ghost was not unpleasant, like the Salem ghost.

1922 P. Curtiss Mummers in Mufti vi. 67 A gaudily dressed but not unpleasant young man.

1985 Times 23 May 14/1 Impugning the motives of old friends..is not just uncomradely. It is downright unpleasant.

2006 D. Langford End of Harry Potter? (2007) 13 Draco Malfoy is an unpleasant snob whose cronies..are brutal bullies.

1827 T. Hood Parthian Glance 28 I can't but..pronounce ‘Heads or tails’ with a child, an unpleasantish game.

1844 T. Hood Etching Moralized 229 'Tis a rather unpleasantish job.

1999 Re: Throwing Butch Ass over Teakettle in rec. equestrian (Usenet newsgroup) 23 Apr. It really did help get him to understand that all sorts of unexpected and unpleasantish things can happen around his feet and it would still be o.k.