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Glite Dictionary
nunnish

nunnish

1 8.8
Being plain and modest in dress and actions like a nun
  • adjective
  • /ˈnʌnɪʃ/
: monjil
  • Her nunnish demeanor, marked by quietness and modesty, impressed everyone at the event.

Examples

  • The nunnish attire of the women in the convent included long black robes and simple veils.

  • As I still imagine them in these stories, the Mayhew Girls are always dressed in nunnish black ankle-length skirts, white blouses, and seductive, shiny patent-leather pumps.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • A whole unspoken history insinuated itself in the air between them: the puttery female household, the daughter's nunnish devotion.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • With a nunnish appearance, she chose to wear conservative clothing and maintained a reserved attitude.

Synonyms

nunlike
vsnunnish
1 6.8

Showing plain dress and calm, quiet behavior like a nun

is the same meaning but uses a different suffix than the other form
conventual
vsnunnish
1 9.9

About the quiet shared life of people who live together in a convent

focuses on an individual religious woman's appearance and behavior, not communal life

How Nunlike

nunnish
1 8.8
modest
5 3.6
secular
165 4.7

Surface Forms

nunnish positive

Morphology

nunnish = nun (transparent) = nun + ish

Clear adjectival formation from 'nun' with the productive suffix '-ish' meaning 'resembling' or 'characteristic of'.

Etymology

Nunnish comes from nun, meaning 'a religious woman', and the ending -ish, meaning 'like'. So something 'nunnish' is 'like a nun' in dress or behaviour, often plain, modest, and simple.