aloof
Adjective Satellite
- remote in manner
- "stood apart with aloof dignity"
Adverb
- in an aloof manner
- "the local gentry and professional classes had held aloof for the school had accepted their sons readily enough"
Adv
- At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
- Without sympathy; unfavorably.
Adj
- Reserved and remote; either physically or emotionally distant; standoffish.
Prep
- Away from; clear of.
Adjective
- Not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant.
Examples
- His strategy remained aloof, giving no hints of his next move.
- I'm a courteous but somewhat aloof man that just tries to stay aloof of any infighting and squalid scandals.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".
Synonyms
distant, upstage, aloof, cool, frosty, hankty, hard-to-get, offish, quiet, remote, reserved, standoffish, strange, thorny, touch-me-not-ish, unapproachable, unbending, undemonstrative, unimpressionable, uninvolved
Scrabble Score: 8
aloof: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordaloof: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
aloof: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary