❄️ Cold like winter 😐 Unfriendly

wintry

1 5.1

Not friendly and showing little warmth toward others

adjective
/ˈwɪntri/

: frío

And on her face, mottled white and gray like granite, Zorah saw her wintry smile.
a wintry smile

Examples

"The wintry smile came back.

Fiction book (1990)
"Exactly," he said with his wintry smile.

Fiction book (1992)
She fixed him with a wintry eye.

Fiction book (1993)
It has a wintry look now.

Blog text (3)
She was frowning deeply; her black eyes were expressionless and wintry, but she kept her voice low.

Fiction book (1993)
A wintry smile flickered briefly, and Zorah sensed its chill in the noon sun.

Fiction book (1991)
He thought she avoided intimacy with polite, wintry smiles and was amiable but not sexy.

Academic text (1996)
He greeted her with a wintry expression, making it clear that he was not pleased to see her.
During the meeting, his wintry demeanor suggested that he was not open to discussion.
Her wintry gaze gave away her lack of interest in the conversation.

Synonyms

icy

vswintry

22 3.3

Cold and unfriendly in tone or manner

is warmer in degree describing coldness of manner not severity

chilly

vswintry

16 3.5

Not friendly or warm toward other people

is colder in tone implying stronger lack of warmth or friendliness

frosty

vswintry

9 3.6

Unfriendly and showing little warmth towards other people

is milder and focuses on a generally unfriendly atmosphere

frigid

vswintry

8 5.2

Not friendly or warm in how someone acts

is less intensely unwelcoming and more like a cold atmosphere

glacial

vswintry

4 7.5

Very cold and unfriendly in the way someone behaves or looks

is milder conveying coldness without intense disdain or contempt

wintery

vswintry

1 1.8

Having cold weather with snow and strong wind

is about lack of warmth in manner rather than seasonal characteristics

frozen

vswintry

5.1

Not warm or friendly in manner

is less about stiffness and more about a cold unfriendly feel

Antonyms

warm

∞ 1.0

Having a comfortable level of heat, often after recent use

friendly

773 1.0

Kind and helpful toward other people

How Unfriendly

hostile

194 4.6

icy

22 3.3

wintry

1 5.1

cold

883 4.4

distant

61 4.9

reserved

3.7

Surface Forms

wintry positive

Morphology

wintry = winter (semi-transparent) = winter + y

The adjective is formed from 'winter' but the sense 'cold, unfriendly' is a metaphorical extension rather than a literal seasonal description.

Etymology

Wintry comes from winter, the cold season, and it is also used for a person's way or an atmosphere that feels 'cold' or unfriendly, like the season itself.