unrefinementn.
/(ˌ)ʌnrᵻˈfʌɪnm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˌənrəˈfaɪnm(ə)nt/ Lack of refinement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [noun]
simplessea1393
roughnessa1398
rudenessc1405
unrefinedness1607
simpleness1648
unpolishedness1652
unpoliteness1700
sordidness1704
ungenteelness1706
indelicacy1712
unrefinement1769
ungentility1822
unprinceliness1855
outbackery1961
1769 Another Estimate Manners & Princ. Present Times 29 The Clergy..force their doctrine upon us with a brutal bluntness of voice, and a savage unrefinement of air.
1840 J. S. Polack Manners & Customs New Zealanders II. xiv. 147 Few people in a similar state of unrefinement feel greater delight or persist more in travelling than the New Zealanders.
1886 M. Linskill Haven under Hill i. 3 Nor did [her speech]..strike you with any jarring sense of unrefinement.
1913 P. H. Boynton London in Eng. Lit. iv. 109 The age was crude, too, in the unrefinement of its manners... Pepys was one time annoyed at the theater because his coat was soiled by a lady in front of him who spat over her shoulder, but he was consoled on seeing that she was pretty.
1951 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 9 Jan. 6/4 What the average young state departmenter needs is some good, wholesome unrefinement. The chances are he has become so detached from us ordinary mortals he can't follow the average low-minded American conversation without an interpreter.
2002 Victorian Stud. 44 199 The unmentionable unrefinement of poverty.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1769