Definition of un-English in English:

adjective

• Not considered characteristic of English people or the English language.

  Example sentences

  • ‘Her combination of lightness and humour is refreshingly un-English.’
  • ‘But what is the origin of this strange word, which looks so very un-English?’
  • ‘You realise, unworthily, that you're in the presence of an entirely un-English sophistication.’
  • ‘Such things I like to think are un-English, yet we are assured that there is great national enthusiasm for London's victory in securing the Olympic Games for 2012.’
  • ‘In a very un-English manner, I have been drinking my tea unsweetened and black for almost 20 years now.’
  • ‘The form is still relatively straightforward, but the music has a transparency and an avoidance of orchestral padding that are striking, and very un-English for those Edwardian times.’
  • ‘It was all rather shocking and un-English; Mrs Penny, in tears, left her basket of food unfinished and the garden, swiftly followed by her younger swain.’
  • ‘I keep pointing out to them how wrong and immoral that is - how profoundly un-English - but they won't listen to me.’
  • ‘Yet, there is no doubt that their Englishness was central to their self-perception, however un-English they might appear to those who were sent over to govern them.’
  • ‘That my guide was Australian and therefore refreshingly un-English was a bonus.’
  • ‘As an English boy growing up in some distinctly un-English places he no doubt became adept in ‘being English’ in a way that a kid growing up in Shropshire wouldn't have to.’
  • ‘It is so very expressive, and so gloriously un-English.’
  • ‘He wasn't able to manipulate an assertive Parliament as Elizabeth could, and was inclined to believe in a very un-English view of the authority of monarchy.’
  • ‘The latter's name was distinctively un-English and must have originated from Alaska's Russian settlers (‘pushki’ means ‘canons’ in Russian).’
  • ‘He was received by a large section of the people with jeers, insults, and various expressions of disgust, terms being leveled at him of an unjust and un-English description.’
  • ‘And the East End produces no type of man or woman so unfit, un-English, and morally and personally so alien as the pauper immigrant.’
  • ‘If he had watched with an open heart and mind, he would have noticed many un-English faces, including our three children's, who were quietly celebrating the virtues of this country and all its people.’
  • ‘To say Arsenal were shrewd in signing up the little-known and very un-English Frenchman would perhaps be the biggest understatement in the history of British football.’
  • ‘It is a beautifully relaxed and un-English idea, and it is not their fault that they are serving some of the best food in London.’
  • ‘Conservative reaction, like socialist internationalism, was distinctly un-English in its lack of provincialism.’