What's the difference between aloof and standoffish?

Aloof


Definition:

  • (n.) Same as Alewife.
  • (adv.) At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
  • (adv.) Without sympathy; unfavorably.
  • (prep.) Away from; clear from.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He strikes me more as a clever man - oh, very clever - than a necessarily charming man; for there's a distance, an aloofness.
  • (2) "He understands that the public see him as privileged, aloof, that they don't like him as a person," says Ganesh.
  • (3) The solution is for Hathaway to spend a year in sarky Manchester, where her attempts to go jogging will be thwarted by 324 days of rain, and if she so much as thinks about telling a Mancunian barmaid that she has poured those lagers fantastically well, she will swiftly learn an aloofness not taught in any American drama school.
  • (4) The psychopathological risk is the "burning out" of the subject, and the defences developed against it, such as humour (casualness), aloofness (abdication), deviance and drug-dependence.
  • (5) "I don't think he is aloof at all," says the Today editor.
  • (6) Britain had previously held aloof from the feuds of Europe's nation states.
  • (7) Does the colour of Campbell skin make us more likely to interpret her behaviour as intimidating, as difficult, rather than simply as aloof, or withdrawn?
  • (8) Fearing false accusation, adults still stay aloof even when a child might possibly be in danger.
  • (9) The mother is irascible, the father aloof; on the other hand, the parental combination "mother and father affectionate" is more common.
  • (10) They were aloof, blokey and arrogant," said one sports broadcasting veteran.
  • (11) I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional,” Clinton said.
  • (12) Our first response is often to bristle at any suggestion of censure, and in doing so we risk coming across as aloof, paternalistic and insensitive to the genuine concerns of others.
  • (13) Alan Yentob, the BBC's creative director, denied the charge that the programme makers are aloof and told the Observer that Danny Cohen, the head of BBC1, and other commissioning editors, including Younghusband, have repeatedly reviewed what went wrong and are changing procedures following the death of controversial figures.
  • (14) Since the extravert is the more sociable, excitement-seeking, carefree individual, while the introvert is more retiring, aloof and introspective, it would be worthwhile in future research to determine whether the dominance, vs. submissive or the high vs. low status dimension is the essential correlate of these spatial differences.
  • (15) Woman at centre of South Korean row says she 'deserves death' Read more Park has already been criticised for being aloof and relying on only a few longstanding confidantes.
  • (16) Ministers continue to grumble that the PM is too aloof, delegating messy domestic policy to the DPM.
  • (17) From the start, nobody has been less aloof, more assertive, nor more influential than the oil and gas industry.
  • (18) The main results of this study were the identification of: a) emotionally unstable patients (42%) who did not respond to the above mentioned selection criterion; b) stable psychological traits such as hostility, aloofness, extroversion as described in type A Behavior Pattern and c) the presence of secondary alexitimic responses suggesting a protective denial of the meaning of the disease.
  • (19) He is the hands-on chief executive to Cameron’s aloof chairman of the board and is therefore the natural focus of Labour’s opprobrium.
  • (20) She writes: If the Southern Rail fiasco has taught us anything it’s surely that travellers need to stand (conveniently) shoulder to shoulder against operating companies, rather than maintain their usual mutual aloofness.

Standoffish


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He told the BBC that, "perhaps naively", he had expected the referendum campaign not to feature politicians so prominently, and he and Cameron could take a more "standoffish" stance.
  • (2) We were aware of his reputation for being unfiltered and upfront , and that he just says what he's thinking; he can be a bit standoffish, we were told.
  • (3) We were in a rehearsal room in midtown Manhattan – he walked in and was quite standoffish, quite short, quite like you would expect him.
  • (4) Yes, the liberals and Labour have all been very standoffish!
  • (5) Nor is this the only incident where the reader is obliged to take on Mrs Bennet's restricted views; compare the verdict on Darcy's standoffishness at his first public appearance: "His character was decided.
  • (6) The last Labour government and the present coalition had been "too standoffish as it applies to Scotland", Alexander said.
  • (7) Char Brown's husband, David, called Page "very standoffish" and "not real friendly".
  • (8) Honestly, I’m not interested in what’s happening in Russia.” * * * Putin cultivates an enigmatic, standoffish persona, but Kadyrov has no time for such subtlety.
  • (9) In the historic university town of Kairouan, there was a mosque just a few paces from the apartment he shared with four standoffish friends, but they almost never prayed there.
  • (10) Whether you love her music and persona or wish she’d vanish off the face of the earth, it’s rare to see a mainstream pop star who functions as both a standoffish auteur and a roaring commercial success – and seems to have a hand in just about every aspect of her creative output.