From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishunkindun‧kind /ˌʌnˈkaɪnd◂/ ●●○ adjective CRUELUNKINDnasty, unpleasant, or cruel A lot of unkind things were said.unkind to Her husband is very unkind to her. —unkindly adverb —unkindness noun [uncountable]RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say mean, nasty, or horrible rather than unkind:The other kids were really mean to me.THESAURUSunkind treating people in a way that makes them unhappy or upset. Unkind sounds rather formal. In everyday English, people usually say mean or nastyChildren can be very unkind to each other.a rather unkind remarkmean especially spoken unkindDon’t be mean to your sister! It was a mean thing to do.nasty deliberately unkind, and seeming to enjoy making people unhappyHe said some really nasty things before he left.a nasty manhurtful unkind – used about remarks and actionsJoe couldn’t forget the hurtful things she had said.Couples sometimes do hurtful things to each other.spiteful deliberately unkind to someone because you are jealous of them or angry with themThe other women were spiteful to her, and gave her the hardest work to do.She watched them with spiteful glee (=pleasure).malicious deliberately behaving in a way that is likely to upset, hurt, or cause problems for someoneSomeone had been spreading malicious rumours about him.There was a malicious smile on her face.an act of malicious vandalismThe accusations are malicious.unsympathetic not seeming to care about someone’s problems, and not trying to help them or make them feel betterHer parents were very unsympathetic, and told her that she deserved to fail her exam.an unsympathetic bosshard-hearted very unsympathetic and not caring at all about other people’s feelingsWas he hard-hearted enough to leave his son in jail overnight?a hard-hearted businessmanvery unkindhorrible especially spoken very unkindWhy is Jack always so horrible to me?cruel very unkind and deliberately making people feel unhappy or making them suffer physicallyHer father was very cruel to her.a selfish, cruel womanwicked /ˈwɪkəd/ extremely unkind and behaving in a very immoral waya wicked thing to dothe wicked stepmother in Cinderellasadistic extremely unkind and enjoying making other people sufferTheir father was a sadistic bully who beat them regularly.He took a certain sadistic pleasure in his job.unintentionally unkind thoughtless/inconsiderate not thinking about the effects of your actions on other peopleIt was inconsiderate of him not to say that he would be late.a thoughtless disregard for other people’s feelingstactless someone who is tactless carelessly says or does things that are likely to upset someone, without realizing what they are doingHow could you be so tactless?a tactless questioninsensitive behaving in a way that is likely to upset someone, or not seeming to care about someone’s feelings. Insensitive is rather a formal wordThe article is insensitive to the family and friends of the victim. He later admitted that some of his remarks were ‘insensitive’.
Examples from the Corpus
unkind• Children can be very unkind.• To the camel-herding Raika fate had been particularly unkind.• Why are you always so unkind about Christina?• It sounds unkind, but nothing of the sort was ever remotely true of Borg.• Those of an unkind disposition might argue that mangling a non-first-class attack is not an especially big deal.• Columnist Hal Crowther, a contributor to these pages, wrote one of the few unkind obituaries of Nixon.• She was used to the unkind remarks made by other students.• He said some very unkind things about my clothes.• He says unkind things that give me pain, Harry.• They had said a lot of unkind things.• I felt very sorry for being unkind to her.• It would be unkind to keep him in suspense for too long.• She has been very rude and unkind to me.• He had no love for Montpelier last time and it is unkind to require him to make such a strenuous journey.• I never heard her say an unkind word about anyone. 