off-putting

adjective

Definition of off-puttingnext
as in obnoxious
not pleasing or likable; causing you to feel dislike of someone or something He has an off-putting manner. The restaurant's garish décor was off-putting.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of off-putting After bedbugs, roaches, and rat infestations, murky tap water is among the most off-putting experiences in New York City apartment living. — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 5 Aug. 2026 But Paddy’s isn’t Sudz, and the Gang’s efforts to soft-pedal their antics to be more in line with those mainstream bars devolved into typical Sunny-style hostility and off-putting grossness. — Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 28 July 2026 This may appear as off-putting calcium rings, or cause more extensive damage to the material. — Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 6 July 2026 And yet for God’s sake, just look at the man—at his dispiriting attempts at humor, his weirdly off-putting outfits, his incessant posting of banalities and faux profundities and extreme-right disinformation on social media. — Mark O’Connell, The New York Review of Books, 4 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for off-putting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for off-putting
  1. obnoxious
  2. disgusting
  3. unpleasant
  4. ugly
  5. awful
  6. sickening
  7. shocking
  8. hideous
Adjective
  • As Claudia, Curtis is perfectly biting and obnoxious, willing to insert herself into her ex-husband’s life for sport, stomping on his feeble boundaries.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The nudity is also more gratuitous and the counselors more obnoxious.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of obnoxious
Adjective
  • Comparing the administration's fight to protect women and women's spaces from males to rape, is utterly disgusting and actually devalues those atrocities and crimes against actual women.
    — Jon Root OutKick, FOXNews.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The squad has not been beefed up at all after a shameful and disgusting transfer window.
    — Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of disgusting
Adjective
  • Other research suggests trypophobic people find hole clusters as unpleasant as pictures of skin disease and that people with a history of skin problems may find hole clusters particularly uncomfortable to look at.
    — Gabriela Galvin, Scientific American, 26 Oct. 2026
  • That is followed by one focused on exploring conventional notions of beauty by uncovering the unexpected draw of unpleasant scents with Naïla Hamayed, Givaudan’s fragrance evaluator.
    — Jennifer Weil, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of unpleasant
Adjective
  • The bad and ugly, though, has been a long list in years past, but especially in this season.
    — Scott Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Hidden truths rear their ugly head, making for an increasingly tense triangle interaction.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of ugly
Adjective
  • Mahomes scrambled to his left and threw an awful interception in the opening half.
    — Sam McDowell October 25, Kansas City Star, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Their wins this year have been against a Patriots team that looked awful in Week 1 – with Drew Lock coming in for Darnold early in the game.
    — David Troy OutKick, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of awful
Adjective
  • Its pristine, almost peaceful harps make the song sound somehow pleasantly sickening.
    — Clover Hope, Pitchfork, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Ole Miss scored two more touchdowns, and whatever momentum Texas had was replaced by that familiar sickening feeling.
    — Mac Engel October 25, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of sickening
Adjective
  • The mother of a toddler who was found breathing in a hospital morgue hours after being pronounced dead is speaking out about the shocking incident.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Sunday’s shocking loss to the Arizona Cardinals dropped Los Angeles to 2-4, and, suddenly, a team that entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations is fighting to stay in the playoff picture.
    — Andy Scholes, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of shocking
Adjective
  • Alabama has been busily demonstrating that the reverse is true, following a string of hideous botched lethal injection executions with a series of no less gruesome executions with nitrogen suffocation.
    — Maya Foa, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026
  • But then comes the ad, a full-screen photo of a hideous brown leather recliner.
    — Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of hideous

Browse Nearby Words

off one's rocker
off-putting
offs
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Cite this Entry

“Off-putting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/off-putting. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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