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What is "off-putting"

Crossword clues for off-putting

off-putting
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
off-putting
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Apparently he found use of the sleeve very off-putting.
▪ She remembered her own off-putting attitude the day after it had happened.
▪ Sometimes I cycled in from Bourn, but the eight miles all uphill on the return was a bit off-putting.
▪ The resultant disturbances of the water and the movement is very off-putting to herons and cats.
▪ They had gnomes in the garden, which was even more off-putting.
▪ While not exactly threatening, her demeanour was hard and off-putting.
▪ Yet this is not the cold, off-putting abstraction which arouses incomprehension in the ordinary spectator.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
off-putting

off-putting \off-putting\ adj.

  1. hard to deal with.

    Syn: awkward, disconcerting, embarrassing, sticky, tight, unenviable.

  2. tending to repel.

    Syn: unappealing.

    The trappings of upper-class life are off-putting and sterile.
    --Elizabeth Hess

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
off-putting

1570s, "procrastinating," from off (adv.) + put (v.). Meaning "creating an unfavorable impression" is first recorded 1894.

Wiktionary
off-putting

a. disconcerting, annoying or repulsive; tending to put off.

WordNet
off-putting

  1. adj. causing annoyance or repugnance; "an off-putting remark"

  2. tending to repel; "The trappings of upper-class life are off-putting and sterile"- Elizabeth Hess

Usage examples of "off-putting".

It was fairly common for those in the first inflationary rush of infatuation, lust or love to embrace almost exclusively the inner voicelessness of implant-articulation in preference to the somehow physically off-putting and clumsy medium of normal speech, and although Pieter did not think Lucia jealous of their guest - any more than Gil seemed able to spare the girl more than the most cursory attention - she did seem to resent both the simple distraction she represented and the fact Pieter had suggested they communicate by speech in deference to the girl's seeming total lack of implants.

Her ardentness was off-putting on a sunny afternoon, and when the open faces of young men caught sight of her they closed down or looked away.

He found the company of his fellow members of the professoriat oddly off-putting.