How to Use untoward in a Sentence

untoward

adjective
  • There was nothing untoward about his appearance.
  • But the clothes came off too quickly for anything untoward to make contact.
    — Sarah-Jane Stratford, Marie Claire, 21 Oct. 2015
  • Lots of untoward impacts are taking place.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
  • Even a few untoward remarks like this to students can have profound effects.
    — Barbara Oakley, WSJ, 13 July 2018
  • Nor is there anything untoward and deceptive about it.
    — Adam Gelb, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
  • But there is something untoward in his pep talks to her, where his hand possibly lingers a little too long on her knee.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 30 Aug. 2021
  • Countless people say the same thing in passing, and there’s nothing untoward about it.
    — Abigail Van Buren, oregonlive, 28 Dec. 2020
  • So his reaction is, No one will ever be able to say that there was something untoward.
    — The New York Times Magazine, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2017
  • All sorts of untoward usage can be envisioned.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 30 May 2026
  • To the point that any pin and screw received wrapping to prevent untoward annoyances.
    — Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
  • None of these inspections turned up anything untoward.
    — Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica, 25 Sep. 2025
  • Dictated by the car and not the mileage, these visits have revealed nothing untoward.
    — Beth Nichols, Car and Driver, 26 Feb. 2021
  • His supporters say there's nothing untoward about a chairman being briefed by his staff.
    — Manu Raju, Jeremy Herb and Laura Jarrett, CNN, 4 May 2018
  • And the ratios in the new box have the right numbers—no untoward gaps to reduce your forward momentum.
    — Patrick Bedard, Car and Driver, 26 Jan. 2023
  • Anything untoward is marked for the attention of a handful of senior medics who patrol the area in green scrubs.
    — Tariq Panja, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2019
  • But he has been suspended six times for untoward acts, and was fined earlier this season for diving.
    — Kevin Allen, USA TODAY, 27 Apr. 2018
  • The Dodgers are the only team in the history of any sport never to do anything untoward.
    — Nick Canepa Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 May 2021
  • The odds of coming across a driver that is doing something untoward is seemingly quite high.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 June 2021
  • This is not all that uncommon Bob so will not be seen as untoward whatsoever.
    — Samantha Nolan, cleveland.com, 1 Nov. 2017
  • Trump officials will respond that there is nothing untoward about what happened.
    — Julian Zelizer, CNN, 27 May 2017
  • Modi had asked people to switch off lights—leading to a grid failure, nothing untoward happened.
    — Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, 5 Apr. 2020
  • As of Wednesday evening, the team found nothing untoward, Ludeman said.
    — Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, Twin Cities, 22 Mar. 2017
  • The strategy works most of the time until something untoward happens.
    — Chris Farrell, Star Tribune, 6 Mar. 2021
  • Until bad bosses have to worry about being sent off the pitch, their untoward actions are unlikely to stop.
    — The Economist, 11 June 2020
  • Black women have received untoward commentary about our hair texture, our hairstyle choices, and our hair loss for a very long time now.
    — Aley Arion, Essence, 1 Apr. 2022
  • Nurse gave a brief answer after Game 6, saying his coaching staff didn’t do anything untoward.
    — Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2020
  • And so far there's been nothing untoward about the president or his activity or anything that has been put forward.
    — Fox News, 29 Apr. 2018
  • To counter this, anti-malware software can scan system memory to look for anything untoward.
    — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Maradona reacted as if nothing untoward had happened, running across to celebrate in front of his father in the stand.
    — Michael Cox, New York Times, 3 June 2026
  • There is nothing untoward about dialogue with the ownership.
    — Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'untoward.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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