What's the difference between unassuming and unobtrusive?

Unassuming


Definition:

  • (a.) Not assuming; not bold or forward; not arrogant or presuming; humble; modest; retiring; as, an unassuming youth; unassuming manners.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Once he gets that power, he starts relishing that side of his personality.” Claflin is an earthy, unassuming sort; even acting hasn’t given him airs and graces.
  • (2) But the scene in the 250-seater conference centre on an unassuming cobbled mews in central London was a far more serene affair.
  • (3) But on Wednesday morning the eyes of the Russian elite – from ministers to Kremlin critics – will be on an unassuming courthouse in the centre of this city, where Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin's loudest foe, will go on trial charged with embezzlement.
  • (4) Stuart, our guide from Wilderness Scotland, is easy-going and unassuming, and also a font of knowledge and a meticulous safety checker.
  • (5) Deahl described the woman as “quiet, unassuming, terribly committed to what she was doing”.
  • (6) I still am.” For many Republican primary voters, the question is whether the unassuming if somewhat gruff Paul – who insisted on no mayo in the ham and cheese sandwich he ordered for lunch – ever was particularly interesting, or if voters were only attracted to the idiosyncratic, 21st-century libertarianism he expounds.
  • (7) 'I am convinced that the only thing that saved those 1,268 people in my hotel was words,' recalls the unassuming man justifiably compared with Oskar Schindler.
  • (8) It’s a small, unassuming restaurant where even the queue to get in is exciting – order a cold beer and watch one of the owners grill fresh sardines and red mullet by the door as you wait.
  • (9) As he ambles into the small interview room at Munich’s Säbener Strasse in a plain black T-shirt and trainers, Alaba is unassuming to the point of being shy, a little at odds with his reputation as a social-media prankster – his oeuvre contains a series of shots of the midfielder Franck Ribéry dozing and a nearly-nude double-selfie with his former team-mate Mitchell Weiser, in thongs – and as a typically Viennese lausbub (rascal) who once told the club’s former president Uli Hoeness that he had to “think about” an allegation by a concerned member of the public that he was painting the town red with Ribéry in Munich.
  • (10) You would hardly recognise him against the grey walls and wood veneer, the unassuming George Costanza lookalike of the Canberra policy world.
  • (11) Calm, unassuming, with salt-and-pepper hair and thoughtful blue eyes, Jane is at the heart of the Milligan clan (there are three other official siblings, plus two slightly unexpected ones) and tries to keep communications between them open.
  • (12) Coates can pass unrecognised through the streets of Stoke-on-Trent, where Bet365's success has made it the city's largest private sector employer, its unassuming offices a hi-tech hive of activity on the margins of an industrial landscape dominated by derelict pottery factories.
  • (13) Her front room-turned-store, where she sells soft drinks and the clove kretek cigarettes beloved of locals, looks unassuming, but is at ground zero for the city’s battle for survival.
  • (14) At last month's Guardian Edinburgh TV festival, a "masterclass" with unassuming, downhome Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan was the biggest draw.
  • (15) From there, an even worse road led me to the unassuming village where the current Ebola epidemic is thought to have started.
  • (16) Heslov directed and produced the film version of Jon Ronson's book, The Men Who Stare at Goats and Ronson testifies to his and Clooney's unusual generosity: "During the release of the film, [Clooney and Heslov] were very welcoming and unassuming and inclusive."
  • (17) Little stands out about the end-of-terrace house that sits on a busy but unassuming road in west London , other than the North Korean flag that flies outside it.
  • (18) Skip Lievsay, an unassuming-looking guy in his mid-60s with highly trained ears, stood before the stacks of speakers and giant movie screen in his office, fussing quietly.
  • (19) One asked me, ‘[Is this] Malaysia ?’ Then he pointed in the other direction, said ‘Thailand’ and shook his head to signal that he was not wanted there.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Malaysian police exhume remains from suspected migrant grave – video Wang Kelian is an unassuming settlement but it has been thrust into the global spotlight this week after the discovery in nearby jungle of dozens of secret camps used by people smugglers and nearly 140 grave sites .
  • (20) Echography must be unassuming in the diagnosis of extra-uterine pregnancy.

Unobtrusive


Definition:

  • (a.) Not obtrusive; not presuming; modest.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He recommends not a bland and stimulus-free environment, but one whose elements are unobtrusive and unambiguous.
  • (2) Key to her survival has been her ability to stay calm and project an air of unobtrusive competence.
  • (3) Given that in rural Haiti, as in much of the less developed world, few women deliver in clinic or hospital where such data could be systematically obtained, exploitation of the preceding birth method would require identification of a convenient and unobtrusive point of contact between questioner and mothers who have recently delivered.
  • (4) On the positive side, patients expressed satisfaction with the efficacy, rapid recovery and small unobtrusive scars produced by the procedure.
  • (5) Occasionally it has been unobtrusive – such as Nationwide's sponsorship of the cash machine in Dev's corner shop in Coronation Street – but elsewhere it's been jarring – such as ITV's deal with Samsung for The X-Factor , which led to scenes of contestants squealing with delight to receive goody bags of Samsung gadgets, and turned every phone call and video diary entry into a mini-plug for the brand.
  • (6) Its "promoted tweet" service, for example, didn't launch until 2010 (four years after the company's foundation), and the frequency of promoted tweets – and of other new services such as "promoted trends" – has been fairly unobtrusive up to now.
  • (7) A label for this heart rate either was or was not provided, and subjects' eating behavior was measured unobtrusively.
  • (8) However, no controlled study has previously been conducted to obtain systematic but unobtrusive data on the actual influences of alcohol upon real-world driving behavior in its natural environment.
  • (9) When I walk in, he is standing in the queue, on his own, casually dressed, looking as ordinary and unobtrusive as he can.
  • (10) Obtrusive and unobtrusive observations revealed the cough rate higher when the patient was aware of being observed than when he was unaware of being observed.
  • (11) Custom-made to blend in with the Victorian wooden benches, it looks like a tea-trolley and is almost as unobtrusive as the small grey cameras perched on the bookshelves.
  • (12) When one makes practical application of the unobtrusive approach, the most difficult problem is defining which interdisciplinary topics are currently being taught.
  • (13) The current study used an unobtrusive methodology to describe the social image associated with smokeless tobacco use and with cigarette smoking in three "types" of teenage models--an athlete, a cowboy, and an average teenager.
  • (14) This study reports on an unobtrusive study of changes in physician referral behavior after a need-oriented continuing medical education program.
  • (15) Using an unobtrusive eyedrop medication monitor, we measured compliance with topical pilocarpine treatment in a sample of 184 patients.
  • (16) Bragg, admittedly, was a particularly unobtrusive figure – his silence emanating from a emotionless Blackberry, as the singer songwriter is on tour in Scotland.
  • (17) Unobtrusive observations of smoking behavior at four hospital areas designated as no-smoking and two designated as smoking revealed almost total compliance to a revised and stringent smoking control policy.
  • (18) It is reliable and unobtrusive and is particularly resistant to occlusion of the sampling line by secrections.
  • (19) Therefore it is only reasonably good taste to be as unobtrusive as possible.
  • (20) To investigate this finding, a survey of reference activity was conducted using measurement techniques unobtrusive to the user.