When you're at a fancy dinner party, if you burp after you eat, use your fingers to spread butter on your bread, and hang spoons from your nose, people will probably say you are uncouth, meaning vulgar and ill-mannered.
- Pronunciation: / ʌn'kʊθ/
- English description: lacking refinement or cultivation or taste
- Synonyms: coarse
- Chinese Translation: 粗野的(cu1 ye3 de)
- Spanish Translation: basto(a)
- ORIGIN: The adjective uncouth comes from Old English and it meant "unfamiliar or not well known." As the meaning developed, the word came to mean "rude, vulgar, or lacking refinement." Interestingly, the word uncouth came first and its antonym, couth, was developed to describe someone who is cultured, polished, and sophisticated. Although couth gets an entry in the dictionary, you will still hear the word uncouth used far more often.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- The suit marks a rare test of whether charities can legally enforce donation pledges, a move that many philanthropic experts call uncouth and unwise.
- But the real threat to such events is not the musings of an uncouth real estate magnate.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com