Aloof
[ə'luːf] or [ə'luf]
Definition
(adj.) remote in manner; 'stood apart with aloof dignity'; 'a distant smile'; 'he was upstage with strangers' .
(adv.) in an aloof manner; 'the local gentry and professional classes had held aloof for the school had accepted their sons readily enough'.
Inputed by Heinrich--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Same as Alewife.
(adv.) At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
(adv.) Without sympathy; unfavorably.
(prep.) Away from; clear from.
Typed by Claus
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Apart, away, separately
ANT:Close, near, together
Typist: Osborn
Definition
adv. at a distance: apart.—n. Aloof′ness withdrawal from common action or sympathy.
Checker: Olivier
Examples
- The two valets sat aloof superciliously. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- In Great Britain the king stood aloof. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Now I see why them men yonder held aloof from me. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I am sure that though Graham stood aloof, he listened too: his hearing as well as his vision was very fine, quick, discriminating. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Thus, for the second time, did Mr. Pickwick's innate good-feeling involve him in an enterprise from which he would most willingly have stood aloof. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- He was aloof and white, and somehow evanescent. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Gudrun stood aloof looking at them with large dark eyes of resentment, suspended for a few moments. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Mr Gowan stood aloof with his cigar and pencil, but Mr Blandois was on the spot to pay his respects to the ladies. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The room in which he sat was very sacred ground to her; she seldom intruded on it; and to-night she kept aloof till the bell rang for prayers. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The doctors know that he is best with her, and when not actively engaged about him, stand aloof. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Come, let me see the list of pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by Lydia's folly. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Rosamond obeyed him, and he took her on his knee, but in her secret soul she was utterly aloof from him. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- How far did they stand aloof from each other, and how far did they intermingle? H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She held herself aloof from me as if she had been a queen, and I her humble, unwashed vassal. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- But for an active being, a being who partakes of the consequences instead of standing aloof from them, there is at the same time a personal response. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- There were those who gathered about Carthoris and myself whenever the opportunity presented, while about an equal number held aloof from us. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Mrs. Peniston disliked scenes, and her determination to avoid them had always led her to hold herself aloof from the details of Lily's life. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Something was keeping their minds aloof, and each was left to conjecture what was in the other. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Bar tendered the weather, as a subject neatly aloof from official reserve, for the Foreman's consideration. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- He glanced swiftly from one to the other of the strangers, and held himself aloof. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- She had prefigured to herself, even with exaggeration, the disgust of her friends, and she had even feared that Celia might be kept aloof from her. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- She meted out a wide space between us, and kept me aloof by the reserved gesture, the rare and alienated glance, the word calmly civil. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He was now beginning to find out what that cleverness was--what was the shape into which it had run as into a close network aloof and independent. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- They were not, however, the first to stand aloof. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Though indeed he began to remember, when he got to this, even _he_ did not mistrust it; he had only happened to keep aloof from it. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Thereafter Robespierre displayed a disposition to brood aloof from affairs. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Mr. Ramsden, a stout, puffy gentleman, as large in person as he was in property, held aloof from the consequent commotion. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Christian alone stood aloof, uneasily rocking himself as he murmured, They ought not to do it--how the vlankers do fly! Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- It was perhaps her very manner of holding herself aloof that appealed to his collector's passion for the rare and unattainable. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Or is it an aloof thing, a problem only for the purposes of conveying instruction in some school topic? John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
Checker: Olivier