standoffish
adjUK /stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/ · US /stænˈdɔ.fɪʃ/
Etymology From stand off + -ish.
1
Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.
- He was stand-offish with the other agents. They on their side said he was the manager’s spy upon them.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213, columns 1–2:
- His initial impression was that he was a bit standoffish or not over effusive […]1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 611:
1 more example
- They were always a haughty family, stand-offish in a way, as they've a right to be.1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter VII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC, page 96:
- Derived terms
- standoffishly, standoffishness