underbred

[ uhn-der-bred ]

adjective

1. having inferior breeding or manners; vulgar.
2. not of pure breed, as a horse.

underbred

/ ˌʌndəˈbrɛd /

adjective

1. of impure stock; not thoroughbred
2. a less common word for ill-bred

Derived Forms

• ˌunderˈbreeding, noun

Other Words From

• un·der·breed·ing [uhn-der-, bree, -ding], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of underbred¹

First recorded in 1640–50; under- + bred

Example Sentences

“An illiterate, underbred book it seems to me: the book of a self-taught working man, & we all know how distressing they are, how egotistic, insistent, raw, striking & ultimately nauseating.”

From New York Times

Or ‘Now I’d better darn my brown stockings,’ ” and it is characteristic that the word she should find to express her critical reservations about “Ulysses” is “underbred.”

From The New Yorker

Virginia Woolf called it an “illiterate, underbred” book.

From New York Times

“Genius it has I think; but of the inferior water… . It is underbred, not only in the obvious sense, but in the literary sense.”

From The New Yorker

He had looked to find her one of two things; either flashy and underbred, with every fault an Englishman might consider French, or a nice mixture of craft and servility.

From Project Gutenberg