un ‧ sym ‧ pa ‧ thet ‧ ic /ˌʌnsɪmpəˈθetɪk/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ sympathy , ↑ sympathizer ; verb : ↑ sympathize ; adverb : ↑ sympathetically ; adjective : ↑ sympathetic ≠ ↑ unsympathetic ]
1 . not kind or helpful to someone who is having problems
2 . not willing to support an idea, aim etc
unsympathetic to/towards
a government that’s unsympathetic to public opinion
3 . an unsympathetic person in a book or play is unpleasant and difficult to like:
an unsympathetic character
—unsympathetically /-kli/ adverb
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THESAURUS
▪ unkind treating people in a way that makes them unhappy or upset. Unkind sounds rather formal. In everyday English, people usually say mean or nasty :
Children can be very unkind to each other.
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a rather unkind remark
▪ mean especially spoken unkind:
Don’t be mean to your sister!
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It was a mean thing to do.
▪ nasty deliberately unkind, and seeming to enjoy making people unhappy:
He said some really nasty things before he left.
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a nasty man
▪ hurtful unkind – used about remarks and actions:
Joe couldn’t forget the hurtful things she had said.
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Couples sometimes do hurtful things to each other.
▪ spiteful deliberately unkind to someone because you are jealous of them or angry with them:
The other women were spiteful to her, and gave her the hardest work to do.
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She watched them with spiteful glee (=pleasure) .
▪ malicious deliberately behaving in a way that is likely to upset, hurt, or cause problems for someone:
Someone had been spreading malicious rumours about him.
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There was a malicious smile on her face.
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an act of malicious vandalism
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The accusations are malicious.
▪ unsympathetic not seeming to care about someone’s problems, and not trying to help them or make them feel better:
Her parents were very unsympathetic, and told her that she deserved to fail her exam.
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an unsympathetic boss
▪ hard-hearted very unsympathetic and not caring at all about other people’s feelings:
Was he hard-hearted enough to leave his son in jail overnight?
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a hard-hearted businessman