Aloof Definition
ə-lo͝of
adjective
Emotionally reserved or indifferent.
An aloof manner.
American Heritage
At a distance; removed.
Webster's New World
Distant or uninvolved.
Remained aloof from political movements.
American Heritage
Distant in sympathy, interest, etc.; reserved and cool.
Her manner was aloof.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- uninquiring
- uncohesive
- spunkless
- pluckless
- noncohesive
- noncoherent
- nonadherent
- nonadhesive
- untenacious
- unexpansive
- unaffable
- unadhesive
- blase
- uncoherent
- upstage
adverb
At a distance but in view; apart.
Webster's New World
Without sympathy; unfavorably.
Wiktionary
Origin of Aloof
-
From a- + Middle English loof (="weather gage," also "windward direction"), probably from 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"
From Wiktionary
a– luff windward part of a ship (obsolete)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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