ungrateful

/ʌn'greitful/

Thân thiện

An ungrateful child never says thank you for a gift.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Not feeling or showing gratitude: Describes a person who does not acknowledge or appreciate kindness, help, or benefits received from others.
   • Disagreeable, unpleasant: Describes a task, situation, or role that is thankless, offering no reward or appreciation for the effort involved.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The ungrateful child never thanked his parents for the expensive gift.
  • She felt it was an ungrateful task to criticize the work of a friend who had tried so hard.
  • After all I did for him, his ungrateful attitude was deeply hurtful.

Advanced Usage

• "To prove ungrateful": To ultimately show a lack of gratitude after receiving help.
  • He feared his assistance would be forgotten and he would prove ungrateful in their eyes.
• "Ungrateful wretch": A strong, often literary, term of condemnation for a profoundly thankless person.
  • The villain in the story was portrayed as an ungrateful wretch who betrayed his own family.

Variants and Related Words

• Ungratefully (adverb): In a manner showing no gratitude.
  • He ungratefully dismissed their concerns.
• Ungratefulness (noun): The state or quality of being ungrateful.
  • Her ungratefulness shocked everyone who had supported her.

Synonyms

• Thankless: Not expressing or feeling gratitude; (of a task) unlikely to be appreciated.
• Unappreciative: Not recognizing the value or kindness of something.
• Unthankful: Lacking in gratitude (a more formal or literary synonym).

Antonyms

• Grateful: Feeling or showing an appreciation for something done or received.
• Thankful: Pleased and relieved, often expressing gratitude.
• Appreciative: Showing recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "To bite the hand that feeds you": To act ungratefully or harmfully toward someone who has helped or supported you. This idiom conveys a similar meaning to being ungrateful.
  • By spreading rumors about his mentor, he was biting the hand that fed him.
• "Ungrateful as a serpent": A literary allusion (often referencing Shakespeare) comparing deep ingratitude to the treacherous nature of a snake.
  • The king saw his nephew's betrayal as being as ungrateful as a serpent.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. disagreeable
   • I will not perform the ungrateful task of comparing cases of failure- Abraham Lincoln
2. not feeling or showing gratitude
   • ungrateful heirs
   • How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is / To have a thankless child!- Shakespeare

Từ đồng nghĩa

• thankless
• unthankful