Definition of "unkindly"

Not kindly.

1. Not kind, lacking in friendliness, warm-heartedness or sympathy.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Preceded by the beadle, and attended by an irregular procession of stern-browed men and unkindly visaged women, Hester Prynne set forth towards the place appointed for her punishment.

     1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 2, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields

   • […] she had seen a not unkindly wink pass between the two.

     1906, E. Nesbit, chapter 4, in The Railway Children‎

2. (archaic) Rough, unfavourable, bad.  quotations

   Quotations

   • From this superfluous pulp in unkindely, and wet years, may arise that multiplicity of little insects, which infest the Roots and Sprouts of tender Graines and pulses.

     1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], page 130

   • Unkindly cold and tempest shrill / In life’s morn oft the traveller chill,

     1789, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Anthem for the Children of Christ’s Hospital”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge‎, volume 1, London: William Pickering, published 1834, page 5

3. (obsolete) Unnatural, contrary to the natural or proper order of things.  quotations

   Quotations

   • That detestable sight him much amazde, / To see th’vnkindly Impes of heauen accurst, / Deuoure their dam;

     1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, page 10

   • […] the want of mercy in a Father, is more unkindly, more unseemly, more unnatural than in another man […]

     1678, Robert Sanderson, Nine Cases of Conscience Occasionally Determined, London: H. Brome et al., p. 128

In an unkind manner.  quotations  examples

(obsolete) In an unnatural manner.  quotations