standoffish

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Yet at the outset, the US appeared strikingly standoffish.

From BBC • May 11, 2025

She describes herself as “prickly and standoffish, selectively extroverted, largely humorless.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025

For her latest movie, “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” Daisy Ridley plays Fran, a drab, standoffish, occasionally obnoxious office worker.

From New York Times • Feb. 10, 2024

Over the course of seven years, we saw them morph from standoffish children — often bullied because of the complexion of their skin — to two young, confident leaders.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 4, 2023

A family of them now reside in the New York Museum of Natural History, dead and stuffed, with standoffish glass eyes.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver