Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The character of being repellent; the disposition or tendency to hold others at a distance.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word stand-offishness.
Examples
-
To clarify, the "nonsense" is Pelosi's stand-offishness and the media infatuation with a meaningless gesture.
Should he have brought flowers? Nancy says, 'No thanks, Eric.' Jennifer Rubin 2011
-
"Even when we started out playing little art galleries in Montreal, we'd pick up on a certain level of cool stand-offishness in the crowd and just try and break though it," says Butler.
Arcade Fire: 'The cliched rock life never seemed that cool to us' Sean O 2010
-
Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed Mr. Toomey, a switch from its early stand-offishness.
-
The coolest thing is how typical kids in her class respond to her because of what appears to be her stand-offishness.
Latest McCain Robo-Slime Says Obama Will Slow Development Of "Life Saving Drugs" 2009
-
I think there's something utopian about this: it's so unlike the stand-offishness of New York life.
The Book of the Damned Charles Fort
-
It connotes a restraint of feeling which more impulsive persons may mistake for absence of feeling; a reserve carried almost to the point of coldness; a quiet dignity which to a breezy Westerner seems like "stand-offishness."
-
Mrs. Hubbard had been prepared to fight, or, at any rate, to display a haughty stand-offishness; but she went down before the sweet face and girlish voice, and, if the truth must be told, by a certain something in
Nell, of Shorne Mills or, One Heart's Burden Charles Garvice
-
It was no supersensitive assertions of status or isolationist stand-offishness that brought this recognition, but practical achievement and attention to the job in hand and unexcelled readiness for active partnership with others all along the line, wherever it could strengthen the cause in which victory was essential if freedom for men and nations was to survive and still find opportunity to grow.
-
Except for what the boys called his stand-offishness -- some of them said that he was too damned high-hat -- he was extremely attractive.
The Plastic Age Percy Marks 1923
-
Ah, young sir, there weren't no stand-offishness about our Nelson, God bless him!
The Amateur Gentleman Jeffery Farnol 1915
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.