lacking good looks; not attractive in physical appearance; plain or ugly
2.
ungracious; discourteous; unseemly
an unhandsome exchange of epithets
3.
ungenerous; illiberal
an unhandsome reward
Derived forms
unhandsomely
adverb
unhandsomeness
noun
Word origin
[1520–30; un-1 + handsome]This word is first recorded in the period 1520–30. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: ballast, bias, junior, monkey, normalun- is a prefix meaning “not,” freely used as an English formative, giving negative oropposite force in adjectives and their derivative adverbs and nouns (unfair; unfairly; unfairness; unfelt; unseen; unfitting; unformed; unheard-of; un-get-at-able), and less freely used in certain other nouns (unrest; unemployment)
Examples of 'unhandsome' in a sentence
unhandsome
His volumes (physically unhandsome, in a rebarbative print-ondemand format, with cramped typesetting) are reader-unfriendly.
The Times Literary Supplement (2017)
It shows a balding but not unhandsome man of about 40, who sports a trim beard.