What's the difference between befitting and unbecoming?

Befitting


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Befit
  • (a.) Suitable; proper; becoming; fitting.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) IN ORDER THAT ASIAN AMERICANS BE MORE ADEQUATELY PROVIDED WITH MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO: (1) have a thorough educational campaign over a long period of time to help Asians overcome their negative prejudices against mental illness, (2) devise culturally relevant diagnostic techniques, and (3) have treatment consonant with the cultural backgrounds of the patients and befitting the role expectations of the patients.
  • (2) The road narrative befits a nation in love with the motor car and networked with roads – but also a country that is so vast.
  • (3) Meanwhile, as befits two heavyweights, there was, before Paris, an edge detectable in Tinseth's voice as he talked of the "strong rivalry" and accused Airbus of holding back orders for the show.
  • (4) In this age of frank public discourse, it ill-befits our newspapers or broadcasters – increasingly given to lurid language themselves – to chastise the PM for language that would make few people blush.
  • (5) The sort of residence befitting the former leader of the most powerful nation on earth.
  • (6) At the FSA she gave a press conference dressed, as befits her name, in leather jacket and trousers and was promptly dubbed Sexy Suzi by the tabloids.
  • (7) His chairman, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, was more magnificently pompous, as befits an ex-foreign secretary.
  • (8) With such knowledge comes a predictable illusion of power, though this is all too regularly punctured by the indignity of being kicked out of shiny receptions and told to use an entrance more befitting of our lowly status – or of having my pronunciation of “Southwark Street” incorrectly corrected by a receptionist, who gives her colleague a sidelong smirk, commiserating over my supposed ignorance.
  • (9) It was conjectured that subjects in the positive condition were annoyed by the disabled person's display of "normal" characteristics, whereas in the negative condition they sympathetically accepted the disabled person's inadequacies as befitting a victim of severe misfortune.
  • (10) A toast, marmalade optional, to Colin Firth, who has quit a film version of Paddington with a grace befitting this most cordial of bears.
  • (11) Steve Bruce bemoaned Chris Foy’s decision not to dismiss Gary Cahill for what he described as a dive more befitting the ballet as Hull City endured a ninth match without a win after succumbing to the Premier League leaders, Chelsea.
  • (12) Otherwise we fail to understand the thinking of others, or to realize deep down that the brother or sister we wish to reach and redeem, with the power and closeness of love, counts more than their positions, distant as they may be from what we hold as true.” To emphasize the point he added: “Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a pastor, it has no place in his heart; although it may momentarily seem to win the day, on the enduring allure of goodness and love remains truly convincing.” The pope ended his speech with two recommendations.
  • (13) Another, Julie Behar, wrote that Madoff deserved a "sentence befitting a thief and murderer" while a Connecticut doctor said the entire retirement plan of his practice had been wiped out, leaving 140 employees with nothing.
  • (14) As befits Lewis, it was a move that was made both for his team, a way to motivate them and perhaps deflect media attention away from them, and for himself, he certainly didn't exactly seem to mind all that media attention, at least most of the time.
  • (15) Lady Gaga: Artpop Last month, as befits the first single from the third album by a multi-platinum selling popstar, the video for Lady Gaga's Applause was simultaneously premiered on the US breakfast TV show Good Morning America and video screens in New York's Times Square.
  • (16) As befitted a youth movement that had been born and flourished under Thatcherism, dance music had always been marked by a sharp entrepreneurial spirit: unlike punk or psychedelia, there was never much talk of "selling out" in clubland.
  • (17) "His behaviour is not befitting of any player wearing a Liverpool shirt and Luis is aware that he has let himself and everyone associated with the club down.
  • (18) As befits its goals, human perception of visual motion largely evades this diversity of cues for image form; direction and rate of motion are perceived (with few exceptions) in a fashion that does not depend on the physical characteristics of the object.
  • (19) Officials have repeatedly sought to justify the millions spent on Nkandla, insisting it was essential to provide Zuma with security befitting a head of state.
  • (20) Another UN official who worked in Damascus early in the conflict told the Guardian: “The UN country team knew from the early days of the conflict that neither the government nor its authorised list of local associations for partnership with the UN could be considered as befitting the humanitarian principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality.

Unbecoming


Definition:

  • (a.) Not becoming; unsuitable; unfit; indecorous; improper.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This in turn prompted US commentators to accuse India of oversensitivity and behaviour unbecoming of an aspirant future power.
  • (2) Rodgers had claimed Sterling’s behaviour was unbecoming of a professional sportsperson after footage emerged of the player appearing to pass out having allegedly taken the legal high known as laughing gas at his home near Southport.
  • (3) Wasn’t it unbecoming of the man dubbed the new Terrence Malick to direct scenes with genial tokers discussing pioneering methods of joint construction , or hookah-puffing sex-pest wizards ?
  • (4) This in turn prompted US commentators to accuse India of over-sensitivity and behaviour unbecoming of an aspirant future power.
  • (5) Once a thorn in the side of modern toffdom – the string of minor convictions, the stints in rehab, the unbecoming leisurewear, the infamous legal spat with Daddy – Jamie is now, at 56, a reformed, drug-free and endearingly blustery galumpher with Wurzelian hair and skin the colour of raw mince.
  • (6) And, 'tis true, that you don't need to look long for evidence online of behaviour unbecoming gentle men and women.
  • (7) The Australian’s on court demeanor has attracted praise and opprobrium in equal measure, split between those who think the game needs more characters and those who find his behaviour unbecoming.
  • (8) Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, said they were “unbecoming” for a president-elect and seemed to show that Trump was rankled by losing the popular vote.
  • (9) In politicians, it might be unbecoming to live a life of gross opulence, but showbiz is different.
  • (10) It's unbecoming of a great nation like Egypt , it's unbecoming of any civil society to behave like this," his father Juris Greste said.
  • (11) You wouldn’t immediately know it to look at him: although he knows more about men’s clothes than any other novelist I’ve ever met, he seems to feel that at his stage of life it would be unbecoming to draw too much attention to his appearance.
  • (12) Mark Butler, Labor’s environment spokesman, said Hunt’s criticism of Grimes was “unbecoming of an elected representative”.
  • (13) 11.12am: An email, from Andy Nicol: Pivoting off your discussion of Oscar Tabarez and tainted World Cup achievements, I wonder if we might consider the Suarez incident and its reception in Uruguay as just the latest in a rather unbecoming attitude towards their place in world football?
  • (14) Foreigners “flopping” was a debate in the US, whose national side, led by anti-diving campaigner Jürgen Klinsmann, don’t stoop that low: USA Today called it “unbecoming”; The Washington Post ran a guide: “So you think you can flop?”; The Wall Street Journal called it “soccer’s oldest and most despised tactic” and listed “average writhing times”.
  • (15) Cameron’s language also drew criticism from backbench Labour MPs, including Chuka Umunna , the former shadow business secretary, who said it was inflammatory and unbecoming of the prime minister’s office, and Mary Creagh, a former Labour leadership hopeful, who said it was “dehumanising language”.
  • (16) Americans don't prefer male bosses because men carry some sort of boss-gene on their Y chromosome; Americans prefer male bosses because male authority is respected while female authority is unbecoming, and because the expectations are set so high for women in power that it's nearly impossible for any mere mortal to meet them.
  • (17) "This kind of behaviour is unbecoming of a party that functions in an open democratic stage and especially one which leads the national government."
  • (18) Yet he describes Goldsmith’s tactics as “unbecoming of anyone wanting to lead a city like London that is so successfully multiethnic and multiracial”.
  • (19) He has also been disciplined by the Law Society for "conduct unbecoming ."
  • (20) Pacific leaders respond to Australian minister's sea level remarks Read more Noting that a meeting in Canberra was running a bit late, Dutton quipped it was running to “Cape York time”, to which Abbott replied: “We had a bit of that up in Port Moresby.” Dutton then said: “Time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to have water lapping at your door.” The president of Kiribati has since called the joke “vulgar” and “quite unbecoming of leadership”.