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up vote -4 down vote favorite

I'll keep it simple, as I've learned - the hard way - that schtick does NOT go over well, around here. So....

unseemly |ˌənˈsēmlē| adj.

(of behavior or actions) not proper or appropriate: an unseemly squabble.

Yes, logically, I already know the answer to the following question... but what good is this site? if one cannot use it to utter such a type of silly pondrance? (Uh oh, "pondrance" isn't a real word, either… Maybe today is not my day to be asking English questions, lol… )

Is there not such a word as"unseeming(ling|ing|in?)ly" ?
Or something, of that sort?

As with most of my "pondrances", lol… I'm sure this question will fan the fires of rage within most of you - and prove further what an obtuse and wholly-ruined boy I am… but I'm like that. Yes, you can't have me!

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3  
What was the question again? Can you edit to make an explicit question? – Mitch Apr 11 '12 at 19:24
Pondrance: "the synchronous correspondence between a pair of otherwise unrelated words." Right? – Carlo_R. Apr 11 '12 at 19:41
I have confirmed that my dictionary does NOT have pondrance. Using the Mac OS X Lion New Oxford American Dictionary. Is it possible that this is not a good dictionary? That would suck. – alex gray Apr 11 '12 at 20:38
Is your question as simple as "Since there is such a word as unseemly, is there therefore such a word as unseemingly?" If so, I would drastically change it, removing all extra fluff (e.g. ponderances on pondrance) and making it more clear how you get to unseemingly. I'm not one of the downvoters, but I honestly didn't come close to understanding what you were asking until I read your comment on @TimLymington's post. – zpletan Apr 12 '12 at 12:35
@zpletan nailed it. the central question is > indented, bold, and was obvious enough to get a great answer… pondrance, i suppose, somehow managed to tag along for the ride, god bless it. – alex gray Apr 12 '12 at 14:45
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closed as not a real question by cornbread ninja 麵包忍者, simchona♦, jwpat7, Mitch, kiamlaluno Apr 13 '12 at 15:56

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

4 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I am, like some of the other posters, having a hard time understanding your question, perhaps because I do not understand the jump from unseemly to unseemingly. The word is not in the Oxford Dictionaries Online (which is NOT the OED), M-W, nor the NOAD. However, Google Ngrams shows that it has been in use since the early 1800s.

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If you go to Google Books and search for unseemingly (especially in the 19th century), you will see all sorts of results. It appears, on a very cursory examination, to be the adverb form of unseemly, and to mean in an unseemly manner.

EDIT: A bunch of searches on the dictionaries at http://meta.english.stackexchange.com/a/2574/13812 eventually led me to the word unseeming. The Free Dictionary's entry says "Unbeseeming; not fit or becoming," on the basis of Webster's 1913 edition. Dictionary.com defines it similarly on the basis of Webster 1996. (Perhaps someone with access to the OED can weigh in in the comments.)

tl;dr From usage and dictionaries, unseemingly is the adverb form of the little-known unseeming, which is a synonym of unseemly.

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wow. very interesting. this is definitely "what I was talking about". i wonder both why it got "kicked off the books" - as well as why it resonates with such familiarity to me… this crowd is SO tough… -2 votes? what's a guy gotta do around here? hmm? – alex gray Apr 12 '12 at 5:26
up vote 2 down vote

Seemingly, you already know the answer to this one.

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sorta.. but the word I'm thinking of definitely would begin with "UN". seemingly is close to obviously.. the word I'm thinking of conotes something a bit tawdry - or at least a hair outside the scope of normal, polite behavior. could it be that I am thinking of seemingly's, seemingly non-existant antonym? – alex gray Apr 11 '12 at 20:33
1  
I would guess you are trying to combine unseemly with unreasonable. Otherwise, you'll have to tell us how many syllables, and mime a bit harder. – TimLymington Apr 11 '12 at 22:12
up vote 2 down vote

Behavior that is unseemly is unbecoming.

And, while the free Merriam-Webster does not contain ponderance, the (subscription based) Unabridged does:

ponderance, noun :

1 : WEIGHT

2 : GRAVITY, CONSEQUENCE

(The capitals denote links to the definitions of the capitalized words.)

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up vote 0 down vote

I am having difficulty understanding your question, but I think you are trying to form an adverb from "unseemly".

One might try "unseemlily", but this kind of formation is rare, and in fact the OED lists this word as "obsolete", with examples only from 1483 and 1661.

However, it lists "unseemly" as an adverb as well as an adjective, for example in

Yon' jovial Troop‥Unseemly flown with insolence and wine. (1725)

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