aloof
pronunciation
How to pronounce aloof in British English:
UK [əˈlu:f]
How to pronounce aloof in American English:
US [əˈluf]
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- Adjective:
- remote in manner
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- Adverb:
- in an aloof manner
Word Origin
- aloof
- aloof: [16] Aloof was originally a nautical term, a command to steer to windward. Its second syllable is a variant of luff ‘sail closer to the wind’ [13]. This was borrowed from Old French lof, ‘windward side of a ship’, which may itself have been, like so many maritime expressions, of Dutch origin. The modern figurative meaning ‘reserved, uninvolved’ developed via an intermediate physical sense ‘away, at a distance’.=> luff
- aloof (adj.)
- 1530s, from a- (1) + Middle English loof "weather gage," also "windward direction," probably from Dutch loef (Middle Dutch lof) "the weather side of a ship." Originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter; hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart" (1580s). Related: Aloofly; aloofness.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Being aloof at the appropriate times can work wonders .
- 2. The younger son , the handsome , aloof gamal , was for years the apparently anointed but undeclared heir to the presidential palace .
- 3. Later on , he became aloof and silent .
- 4. The muslim brotherhood has lately kept judiciously aloof from the political squabbling .
- 5. Variety here refers to the two types of justice : one is soft and aloof justice and the other belongs to the tough and populist kind .