untoward
/ˌʌn.təˈwɔɹd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.70 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Unruly, troublesome; not easily guided.
Example Sentences
- "But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred[…]"
- "Honest men for the most part, but men with whom the world had dealt hardly; the failures of all countries, men sobered by toil and saddened by exile, who had been driven to fight for the dominion of an untoward soil, to sow where others should gather, the advance-guard of a mighty civilization to be."
- "At Tebay however, he began to get the mastery over these untoward conditions, and actually got back a little time up to Shap, after which all was plain sailing."
- "No untoward effects were reported; however, this was not a blinded or controlled study."
- "However, these guidelines may not be applicable to all individuals with refractory epilepsy, in whom seizure control is not achieved without using polytherapy or resection surgery with their untoward side effects."
- "She could hardly have made a more untoward choice."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌʌn.təˈwɔɹd/
- British English: /ˌʌn.tʊˈwɔːd/
Inflected Forms
more untoward (comparative)
most untoward (superlative)