unintimidating
- adjective
- /ˌʌnɪnˈtɪmɪˌdeɪtɪŋ/
- The teacher has an unintimidating approach that makes students feel comfortable asking questions.
Examples
-
It wouldn't do for him to appear unintimidating.
Fiction book (2000) -
A moment later, the man himself spun off from the group and walked directly to Trevor, looking natural, friendly, and unintimidating somehow.
Fiction book (1999) -
The user-friendly design of the app is unintimidating for new users who are not tech-savvy.
-
At the workshop, the unintimidating environment encouraged participants to share their ideas freely.
Synonyms
Willing to help others and change plans for them
Not likely to make someone feel afraid or unsafe
Not attracting attention or getting in the way
Not trying to harm or unfairly take advantage of others
Gentle in manner and tone, not likely to offend
Antonyms
How Intimidating
Surface Forms
Morphology
unintimidating = intimidating (transparent) = un + intimidate + ing
The adjective is formed by adding the productive negative prefix 'un-' to 'intimidating', yielding a straightforward opposite meaning.
Etymology
Unintimidating comes from the prefix un- meaning 'not' and the root timid meaning 'fearful', so it literally says 'not making someone feel afraid'. Think of it as the opposite of intimidate, which means 'to make someone feel timid', so an unintimidating person is easy to approach.