Word of the Day

: October 21, 2021

untoward

adjective un-TOH-erd

What It Means

Untoward means "unruly, unfavorable, or improper."

// The rules specify that untoward behavior will not be tolerated.

See the entry >

untoward in Context

"At 82, Judy Collins retains the crystalline tone that made her an icon of the early 1960s folk music movement, sounding so youthful … it's hard not to ask her whether she's made an untoward bargain with the devil." — Andrew Gilbert, The San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Sept. 2021

Did You Know?

For centuries, toward was used for "forward-moving" youngsters, the kind who showed promise and were open to listening to their elders. The adjective then came to mean "obliging." The opposite of this toward is froward, meaning "disobedient." Froward has fallen out of common use, and the cooperative sense of toward is obsolete, but untoward is still moving forward.