unsoldierly

English

Alternative forms

• unsouldierly (obsolete)

Etymology

From un- +‎ soldierly.

Adjective

unsoldierly (comparative more unsoldierly, superlative most unsoldierly)

1. Not soldierly, not appropriate for a soldier.

   His desertion was condemned as an unsoldierly act of cowardice.

   • 1644, William Prynne, A Check to Britannicus‎^[1], London: George Hutton, page 3:

     For which most unsouldierly & unworthy action […] he had this insuing Judgement pronounced against him […]

   • 1718, Alexander Pope, The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintot, Volume 4, Observations on the Fourteenth Book, Verse 81, p. 131,^[2]

     He does not say, to shun the Battel, for that had been unsoldierly, but he softens the Phrase, and calls it, to shun Evil:

   • 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Osorio, London: John Pearson, 1873, Act V, Scene 1, p. 140,^[3]

     [He advances with his sword as about to kill him. […] ]

     Maurice. What, an unarm’d man?

     A man that never wore a sword? A priest?

     It is unsoldierly! I say, ye shall not!

   • 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana‎^[4], London: Macmillan, Part 3, p. 98:

     It is a miserable story. Even Yate, who saw it happen, betrays an unsoldierly sigh.

   • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time‎^[5], Random House, Part 1:

     But as soon as the man in uniform gripped his pen and started writing, a change came over him. Sweat began to pour from his hair, from his widow’s peak down on to his forehead, and from the back of his head down into his collar. […] Such unsoldierly apprehension was not encouraging.

Synonyms

• unsoldierlike

Adverb

unsoldierly (comparative more unsoldierly, superlative most unsoldierly)

1. In a manner that is not appropriate for a soldier.
   • 1881, Ambrose Bierce, “What I Saw of Shiloh”, in The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce‎^[6], New York: Neale, published 1909, page 234:

     A few of them limped unsoldierly in deference to blistered feet.

   • 1925, Robinson Jeffers, “The Tower Beyond Tragedy”, in Roan Stallion, Tamar, and Other Poems‎^[7], New York: Modern Library, published 1935, page 32:

     […] you, soldiers, that shift unsoldierly
     The weapons that should be upright, at attention, like stiff grass-blades: