Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not ostentatious; unpretentious.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not ostentatious; not boastful; not making show or parade; modest. West, On the Resurrection.
- Not glaring; not showy: as, unostentatious coloring.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not
ostentatious ;simple ;unpresuming .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective exhibiting restrained good taste
- adjective not ostentatious
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Women were instructed to wear dresses of “surpassing neatness and simplicity,” and respectable urban men were expected to become what a business directory in the 1850s called “the unknown knight, with his plain unostentatious black armor.”
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
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The higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by a the elaborate frivolity of chess.
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The Secret Millionaire9pm, Channel 4Chris Brown is a gadget-obsessed, self-confessed geek who has made millions from his travel website, but lives an unostentatious, family-based lifestyle and wants to put his wealth to good use.
The weekend's TV highlights Martin Skegg 2010
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Shrimpton, dressed in a simple, unostentatious black dress – more bohemian than haute couture – is quick to lament the fashion world's excesses.
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It's the sort of solid, unostentatious compound, hidden behind walls, where Afghanistan's old upper-middle class lived in the 1960s and '70s, the Afghan equivalent of WASP.
The Man Who Might Have Been 'King' Ann Marlowe 2010
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The blues singer and guitarist Phillip Walker, who has died aged 73, was one of those intelligent, tasteful, unostentatious musicians who tend to be more appreciated by critics and other players than whooped at by audiences.
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Consciously unostentatious though she might be, Attias is fabulously well connected.
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Is it unwise for me to gratify a desire for beautiful things, which will be a constant joy to my friends and my children as they grow to appreciate them, as well as to myself, when it is done in so quiet and unostentatious a manner?
The Splendid Spoils of Standard Oil Jonathan Lopez 2010
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It's the sort of solid, unostentatious compound, hidden behind walls, where Afghanistan's old upper-middle class lived in the 1960s and '70s, the Afghan equivalent of WASP.
The Man Who Might Have Been 'King' Ann Marlowe 2010
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It's the sort of solid, unostentatious compound, hidden behind walls, where Afghanistan's old upper-middle class lived in the 1960s and '70s, the Afghan equivalent of WASP.
The Man Who Might Have Been 'King' Ann Marlowe 2010
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