antisocial, asocial, non-social, unsociable, or unsocial? There are slight distinctions in meaning between these five related words that need to be observed. Antisocial means ‘harmful to society’: antisocial behaviour; It's terribly antisocial to dump rubbish on the side of the road. Asocial is a rarer word andimplies total rejection, in this case of society or social contact – a recluse might be described as asocial. Non-social is used mainly as a technical term ‘not socially oriented’ – the life of many animal species could be described as non-social. To be unsociable usually means ‘to be unfriendly and dislike company’: Our new neighbours are totally unsociable and have never even invited us in for a cup of tea. In British English, unsocial is mainly found in the phrase to work unsocial hours meaning ‘to work at times when most other people are at home’