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unkindness

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English unkyndenesse; equivalent to unkind +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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unkindness (countable and uncountable, plural unkindnesses)

  1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being unkind.
    His unkindness earlier comes from his bad mood.
    She shows her unkindness through her actions.
  2. (countable) An unkind act.
    You have done me an unkindness with your cruel deeds.
  3. (countable, collective) A flock of ravens or sometimes crows.
    Near-synonyms: murder, conspiracy
    Hypernym: flock
    An unkindness of ravens spread across the sky.
    • 2014, Will Self, Shark‎[1], Grove Atlantic:
      she brought down on her head an unkindness of crows, which limped across the beech-mast to stare one-sidedly at this... carrion in waiting.
    • 2006, Kate Forsyth, The Shining City: Book Two of Rhiannon's Ride‎[2], Roc, published 2006, →ISBN:
      All Olwynne could remember, though, was her father falling away from her into some deep pit, his black wings bent over his face, and then hundreds of ravens, an unkindness of ravens, plummeting from the sky to peck out her eyes.
    • 2007, Elizabeth Haydon, The Thief Queen's Daughter, Starscape Books, published 2007, →ISBN, page 228:
      "There's an unkindness of ravens that roosts on top of the guild. Their numbers are growing by the day. Aren't they spectacular?
    • 2010, Rick Burroughs, Alan Wake, Tor Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 38:
      A raven cawed somewhere up ahead, and its cry was answered by others, an unkindness of ravens on all sides.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:unkindness.

Synonyms

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Translations

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