English

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Etymology

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From Middle English unfitting, equivalent to un- +‎ fitting.

Adjective

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unfitting (comparative more unfitting, superlative most unfitting)

  1. Not fitting (e.g., of clothes).
    • 2014 July 2, Lauren Kaye, RUN FOR REVENGE, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:
      Haley looked down at her unfitting clothes and answered. “I don't really have anything else. I was traveling a lot, so I didn't have much stuff to carry around.” Sam frowned and got up. “I can give you some of my clothes []
    • 2016 October 28, Nathan J. Gregory, Lost Shadows: A Novel, Nathan J. Gregory:
      I discarded my old, unfitting clothes off to the bottom of the staircase and tried on the new garments Sue had retrieved for me. When they hit the bottom, I heard a small rattle and ting noise.
    • 2020 September 9, Lennard Dominic Lennard, Other Hollywood Renaissance, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 289:
      Whereas Mary-Tate's clothes further drive home that she truly does not belong in this milieu other than for sex, Craig's again reveal his façade. The severely unfitting clothes she wears are clearly not her own and are so loose that []
  2. That is not fitting for its purpose; unsuitable; improper.
    • 2004 January 15, Paul ten Have, Understanding Qualitative Research and Ethnomethodology, SAGE, →ISBN, page 61:
      So the puzzle of the unfitting answer is solved immediately by the interviewee himself, and interactionally recognized as such by the laughing mode in which the participants deal with it.
    • 2008 April 1, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Cracking the Communication Code Workbook: The Secret to Speaking Your Mate's Language, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 149:
      Long term, what do these unfitting remarks (filthy words, silly words, and coarse words) do to the spirit of a wife or husband? What do they do to you?
    • 2014 March 31, Kirill Postoutenko, Totalitarian Communication: Hierarchies, Codes and Messages, transcript Verlag, →ISBN, page 30:
      Although it has been already hinted at the link between the human ability to exchange roles and the citizens' right to retroactively adjust unfitting remarks or gestures to the situation, the same connection could perhaps be better []

Derived terms

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