Definitions

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

  • adjective Not appropriate, attractive, or flattering.
  • adjective Not in accord with the standards implied by one's character or position: synonym: unseemly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A transition from existence into non-existence; dissolution.
  • Not becoming; improper; indecent; indecorous.
  • Not befitting or suiting; not suitable or proper (for or in).
  • Not esthetically suited to the wearer, as an article of dress; not enhancing the beauty of its subject, as an attitude or a gesture.

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

  • adjective Not becoming; unsuitable; unfit; indecorous; improper.

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

  • adjective Not flattering, attractive or appropriate.
  • adjective Not in keeping with the expected standards of one's position.

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

  • adjective not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ becoming

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Examples

  • We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holy days, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy saints.

    Feast of the Sacred Heart John 2009

  • We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holy days, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy saints.

    Ss Petri & Pauli John 2009

  • With THE SOCORRO BLAST, I thought people would object to the idea that our current national paranoia squirts out, in unbecoming ways, even in small towns.

    Objectionable content 2008

  • With THE SOCORRO BLAST, I thought people would object to the idea that our current national paranoia squirts out, in unbecoming ways, even in small towns.

    January 2008 2008

  • He bowled his last delivery in first-class cricket, at the end of an inconsequential match for Durham against the 1993 Australian tourists, with his member hanging out of his trousers, an act which Wisden coyly described as "unbecoming and flippant".

    Ian Botham by Simon Wilde - review 2011

  • Although his middle-class family considered such a calling unbecoming, as a child he thought of becoming a painter or cartoonist.

    Archive 2009-05-01 Rus Bowden 2009

  • But it had become an acknowledged fact in Bungay that John Crumb was ready at any hour to punch the head of any man who should hint that Ruby Ruggles had, at any period of her life, done any act or spoken any word unbecoming a young lady; and so strong was the general belief in John Crumb, that Ruby became the subject of general eulogy from all male lips in the town.

    The Way We Live Now 2004

  • Bungay that John Crumb was ready at any hour to punch the head of any man who should hint that Ruby Ruggles had, at any period of her life, done any act or spoken any word unbecoming a young lady; and so strong was the general belief in John Crumb, that Ruby became the subject of general eulogy from all male lips in the town.

    The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1848

  • And "screwed up" is gutter slang unbecoming of the leader of the free world.

    Latest Articles 2009

  • All this you asserted in terms unbecoming the place in which you stood, unbecoming the person to which they were addressed, and highly improper to be used by one who spoke about what he did not under - stand.

    Junius : including letters by the same writer, under other signatures, (now first collected) to which are added, his confidential correspondence with Mr. Wilkes, and his private letters addressed to Mr. H.S. Woodfall ; with a preliminary essay, notes, fac-similes, &c. Good, John Mason, 1764-1827 1812

  • These new story lines are, instead, versions of what the feminist scholar Susan Fraiman calls narratives of “unbecoming,” featuring protagonists who undermine their own growth and education, and are more likely to be mired in failure than striving toward wedding rings and corner offices.

    Opinion | Why We Love Lazy, Drunk, Broke Women on TV By 2022

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