Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb In a
standoffish way.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb in a standoffish manner
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Next time I see the princess, I will try out this new technique of speaking standoffishly.
Gulliver’s Travels Movie Novelization Sarah Willson 2010
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Party honchos have standoffishly avoided endorsing even the simplest elements of the plan.
Dawn Teo: Six Activists, A Mysterious Proposal, And Dem Party Mutiny in AZ 2009
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Elsewhere, a tight-knit group of Klingons huddled standoffishly over megacaffeinated coffee, looking like they were discussing studied trivialities and each privately wondering who in the group would report their words back to the imperial representative.
Ishmael Barbara Hambly 2000
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Elsewhere, a tight-knit group of Klingons huddled standoffishly over megacaffeinated coffee, looking like they were discussing studied trivialities and each privately wondering who in the group would report their words back to the imperial representative.
Ishmael Barbara Hambly 2000
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Four or five tables, cases and stands, backed standoffishly against the tapestry on the walls, and the legs and bases of this furniture were great -- unbelievably great, rococo gilded legs -- legs that writhed and twisted themselves in a sheening agony of impossible forms, before they resigned themselves to dropping to the floor in distress.
The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me William Allen White 1906
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Party honchos have standoffishly avoided endorsing even the simplest elements of the plan.
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His girlfriend, Becky, the hottest girl in school, stands next to him, standoffishly.
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