un·ap·proach·a·ble

(ŭn′ə-prō′chə-bəl)

adj.

1. Not friendly; aloof: an unapproachable executive.

2. Not accessible; inapproachable: an unapproachable chalet high in the Alps.

un′ap·proach′a·bil′i·ty, un′ap·proach′a·ble·ness n.

un′ap·proach′a·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

unapproachability - a disposition to be unapproachable; unfriendly and inaccessible

standoffishness, withdrawnness, aloofness, remoteness - a disposition to be distant and unsympathetic in manner

approachability, accessibility - the attribute of being easy to meet or deal with

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"But how often I have felt proud of her, proud of her majestic beauty and social tact," thought he; "been proud of my house, in which she received all Petersburg, proud of her unapproachability and beauty.

View in context

Presently, indications for surgical drainage comprise unapproachability or multiple abscesses that cannot be drained percutaneously or unsuccessful percutaneous drainage.

Prospective randomized comparison of ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle aspiration with percutaneous catheter drainage of liver abscesses

Whether concerned with the unapproachability of God's splendor or the presentational merits of geometrical drawing and algebraic notation, a reader's experience of writing as an ontological and epistemological medium is essential.

Unspeakable Creation: Writing in Paradise Lost and Early Modern Mathematics

Untouchability and unapproachability were also part of India's traditions.

Reformation, Not Revivalism

Instead of cleaning up her women as fashion magazines do, or constructing a supermodel force field of unapproachability, Minter makes dirty pictures that invite joyous, rollicking intimacy.

Pretty ugly: Glenn O'Brien on Marilyn Minter

This expression of deference entails an obvious irony: putting on the trappings of state performs the unapproachability of the monarch, but commoners as players wearing courtly clothing breaks down the distance praised through the act of representation.

'This citie of insufficience': heraldic text and the representation of authority in York's 1486 entertainment for Henry VII