untoward

un- +‎ toward (“to +‎ -ward”)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʌn.tʊˈwɔːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtɔɹd/, /ˌʌn.təˈwɔɹd/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)d

untoward (comparative more untoward, superlative most untoward)

1. Unfavourable, adverse, or disadvantageous.
   • 1886-88, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred […]

   • 2004, Jan Riordan, chapter 5, in Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, →ISBN, page 149:

     No untoward effects were reported; however, this was not a blinded or controlled study.

   • 2007, Steven C. Schachter et al., chapter 4, in Behavioral Aspects of Epilepsy: Principles and Practice, →ISBN, page 282:

     However, these guidelines may not be applicable to all individuals with refractory epilepsy, in whom seizure control is not achieved without using polytherapy or resection surgery with their untoward side effects.

2. Unruly, troublesome; not easily guided.
3. Unseemly, improper.
   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224, pages 2–3:

     She could hardly have made a more untoward choice.

   • 2005, John Martin, Organizational Behaviour and Management, →ISBN, page 518:

     The managing director was very depressed at the news, but realized that trying to prove anything untoward had taken place would be very difficult.

• (unfavorable, adverse): adverse, disadvantageous, inconvenient, unfavorable, unfortunate
• (unruly, troublesome): difficult, fractious, stubborn, troublesome, uncontrollable, unruly
• (unseemly, improper): immodest, improper, unseemly

• drawn out, drawn-out, outdrawn