Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not favorable; unpropitious.
- adj. Troublesome; adverse: an untoward incident.
- adj. Hard to guide or control; unruly.
- adj. Improper; unseemly.
- adj. Archaic Awkward.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Froward; perverse; refractory; not easily guided or taught.
- Inconvenient; troublesome; vexatious; unfortunate; unlucky: as, an untoward event; an untoward vow.
- Synonyms Wilful, Contrary, etc. (see wayward), intractable.
- Toward.
Wiktionary
- adj. Unfavourable, adverse, or disadvantageous.
- adj. Unruly, troublesome.
- adj. Unseemly, improper.
GNU Webster's 1913
- prep. Toward.
- adj. Froward; perverse.
- adj. Awkward; ungraceful.
- adj. Inconvenient; troublesome; vexatious; unlucky; unfortunate.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society
- adj. contrary to your interests or welfare
Examples
“And litigation only occurs if people figure out that something untoward is going on — with personalized search results, you may never know what comes up when other people search for your name.”
“You're obviously pretty confident nothing untoward is going to be happening in front of your webcam at these intervals!”
“All the 'ill luck' -- that is, the untoward circumstances of the year, would be ascribed to the accident of a person with light hair having been the first to enter a dwelling on the mornings referred to.”
“He came to his senses thinking of the one little item which could be described as untoward -- thinking of Hilda, and Hilda engaged to be married to Fred”
“Jones called charges that the e-mails involve any "untoward" activity "ludicrous", and Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research stated that the skeptics have selectively quoted words and phrases out of context in an attempt to sabotage the Copenhagen global climate summit in December.”
“If the latter, it may be tactically advantageous to reassure the judge that you can prevail without your proposed rule producing the kind of untoward results implicit in the question.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Answering Questions at Oral Argument:
“And, if the rich person did something 'untoward', should she have to pay just because of that?”
“Parker goes on to say she's not at all suggesting anything "untoward," which seems obvious.”
“When the accuser was interviewed by the child services organization and he denied any kind of untoward conduct by Michael Jackson, a critical document ...”
“We do so from a wish to preserve certain traits and anecdotes which the occasion drew forth, -- to give the pleasant rather than the "untoward" events of the day: though we must own the whole appears to have been a very droll business, always excepting the _semi-pransus_.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 532, February 4, 1832
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘untoward’.
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yum. delicious description
sycophantic, doughface, unctuous, sebaceous, oleaginous, diabolic, ostent, sudatory, bulbous, pustule, bauble, trinket and 6 more...
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Summers Vocabulary # 2
jejune, ingratiate, congruent, cryptic, beleaguer, tangential, impregnable, predilection, surly, dolorous, untoward, renege
Noelle Knight "Did anything else untoward happen?" Bill sounded just a wee bit dry. -Charlaine Harris, Living Dead in Dallas Dec 10, 2010