Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Tending to disconcert or repel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective hard to deal with.
  • adjective tending to repel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Disconcerting, annoying or repulsive; tending to put off.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective causing annoyance or repugnance
  • adjective tending to repel

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From put off.

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Examples

  • If you can't figure out why blurting out 'I am moral and altruistic' is off-putting, then you've got some of that social autism Vox Day loves to go on about.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • If you can't figure out why blurting out 'I am moral and altruistic' is off-putting, then you've got some of that social autism Vox Day loves to go on about.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • But if you can't even understand why it would/could be taken as off-putting or galling – even if you disagree with the view – what can I say?

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • I asked you to explain why you think that describing oneself as moral and altruistic should be seen as "galling" and "off-putting" by everyone.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • In Matzke's defense: While I've found his tone consistently (to this point, at least) off-putting, and I've been none too impressed by quite a lot of his rationales with regards to that tone when it comes to ID, this is this first time I recall him directly touching on the subject of theism/atheism itself.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • Whether one would find the moral and altruistic assertion "galling" and "off-putting" is another matter attributable to taste.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • Your explanation: you find TP's declaration off-putting and everyone who does not see it that way is a tard.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • The $45 cost is off-putting to my grad-school budget (abundance of other products left behind by moving girlfriends is a second reason).

    Archive: Oct 08 - Mar 09 Cath@VWXYNot? 2009

  • You could both see why it would be (by and large) taken as off-putting, yet disagree that it really is.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

  • As for what you consider yourself to be or what you find off-putting – fantastic.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

Comments

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  • I cringe whenever I hear this word. Can we please do better? What words are more euphonious and have a more distinguished entomology?

    October 26, 2010

  • Dunno, my inner-entomologist was carried off by a swarm of insects.

    October 26, 2010

  • Hey, it's better than sick-making.

    October 26, 2010

  • entomology - that's the study of ents, right?

    October 26, 2010

  • This whole conversation is extremely off-putting.

    October 26, 2010

  • It seems like this ought to mean "procrastinating on", as in, for example, "I really need to clear off my coffee table, but I've been off-putting it."

    October 27, 2010

  • Putting off is avoidance and avoidance is off putting.

    October 27, 2010