Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Unpretentious.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not pretending to or claiming any distinction or superiority; unassuming; modest.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective unpretentious, real, genuine

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not ostentatious

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From un- + pretending

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word unpretending.

Examples

  • But there is a kind of unpretending prettiness in the bright and breezy heights environed by black forest and blue sea.

    Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska Charles Warren Stoddard 1876

  • Continental wanderings, to take many a third-class carriage full of witty peasants, and stop at many an "unpretending" inn "Of the White

    The Joyful Heart Robert Haven Schauffler 1921

  • I also liked the feeling that the fresh, unpretending food was coming straight out of the kitchen and on to the table.

    Restaurant: Polpetto, London W1 John Lanchester 2010

  • Perhaps you will think the little verses I am now going to read you rather empty, but they still seem to me good in their unpretending way.

    Later Articles and Reviews W.B. Yeats 2000

  • Simple and unpretending in manner, she was endowed with a strong intellect and a warm heart.

    History of American Women Maggiemac 2009

  • She was poor and unprotected, the daughter of a villager; she was untaught and unpretending, the child of simplicity!

    Cecilia 2008

  • London to obtain her pardon, are both represented as true by my fair and obliging correspondent; and they led me to consider the possibility of rendering a fictitious personage interesting by mere dignity of mind and rectitude of principle, assisted by unpretending good sense and temper, without any of the beauty, grace, talent, accomplishment, and wit to which

    Chronicles of the Canongate 2008

  • Wherever they occur, they have been admitted, as aiding in the development of the story, and will probably be considered as of little importance in an unpretending volume, which does not aspire to strict historical accuracy. source

    Archive 2008-04-01 ~~louise~~ 2008

  • Thenardier rose in an unpretending manner, went to the fireplace, shoved aside the screen, which he leaned against the neighboring pallet, and thus unmasked the brazier full of glowing coals, in which the prisoner could plainly see the chisel white-hot and spotted here and there with tiny scarlet stars.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • Amongst the troops detached on this service was a small party, commanded by Stawarth Bolton, a captain in the English army, and full of the blunt and unpretending gallantry and generosity which has so often distinguished that nation.

    The Monastery 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.