uncomfortable definition

English

Etymology

un- +‎ comfortable

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkʌmf.tə.bəl/, /ʌnˈkʌm.fə.tə.bəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bəl/, /ʌnˈkʌmf.tɚ.bəl/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

uncomfortable (comparative more uncomfortable, superlative most uncomfortable)

1. Not comfortable; causing discomfort.

   The class squirmed and fidgeted in the uncomfortable new chairs.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.

2. Experiencing discomfort.
3. Uneasy or anxious.

   Sharing a house with them made me uncomfortable.

4. Put off or disgusted.

Usage notes

Although the word uncomfortable looks (etymonically) like one of its senses could be synonymous with inconsolable, it does not have that sense; the absence of that sense is simply a lexical gap. In parallel, the same is true of comfortable and consolable, as well as comfortability and consolability.

Synonyms

• ill at ease

Antonyms

• comfortable
• ergonomic

Derived terms

• uncomfortableness
• uncomfortably

Translations