standoffishness

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

standoffish +‎ -ness

Noun

standoffishness (uncountable)

  1. The state, quality, or condition of being standoffish or aloof and unsociable; aloofness.
    • 2004, Kate Fox, “Rules of Sex”, in Watching the English, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 336:
      Many of the seemingly bizarre courtship practices of English males—the cautiousness, reserve and apparent stand-offishness that foreign females complain about—are characteristic features of ‘negative politeness’.

Translations
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