unpresentableadj.
/ˌʌnprᵻˈzɛntəbl/, U.S. /ˌənprəˈzɛn(t)əb(ə)l/ Not presentable; esp. not of good or respectable appearance, not fit to be seen in public.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > unseemliness or unbecomingness > [adjective] > unpresentable
unpresentable1818
improducible1820
1818 Champion 12 Oct. 651/1 Young unknown lords, unpresentable among European diplomatists.
1857 J. G. Wood Common Objects Sea Shore 55 A pair of snowy white trowsers were covered with the sable fluid, and rendered entirely unpresentable.
1876 T. Hardy Hand of Ethelberta II. xlviii. 272 She still felt so distressed and unpresentable that she resolved not to allow Lord Mountclere to see her.
1943 D. Whipple They were Sisters xiii. 173 His wife became unpresentable; she shamed him, he considered, so he almost retired from view.
1995 M. Amis Information (1996) 297 Those rendered unpresentable by neglect.
2002 Prospect Dec. 67/2 Van Gogh's chrome yellow has faded, Rothko's lithol red is now an unpresentable mess.
Derivatives
unpreˈsentableness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > unseemliness or unbecomingness > [noun] > unpresentableness
unpresentability1797
unpresentableness1855
1855 Illustr. Manners Bk. Contents p. v The Accomplishment of Cleanliness; A Hint to Ladies; Salutary Advice; Unpresentableness.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. x. 330 My own shyness and unpresentableness were farther stiffened..by a patriotic and Protestant conceit.
1993 French Forum 18 330 One can no more present the unpresentable in all its unpresentableness, than one can determine the truth value of the statement ‘Every thing I say is a lie.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1818