Unsupportiveness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of failing to offer help, encouragement or sympathy when someone needs it
2. A state of not providing support, backing or comfort to another person in a difficult situation
3. Withholding of assistance, approval or emotional backing from those who depend on it

Etymology: "Unsupportiveness" is a plain formation: the adjective "unsupportive" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn it into a noun naming a quality or state. "Unsupportive" itself combines "un-", a prefix meaning "not", with "supportive", which comes from "support" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ive". Taken together, the word names the condition of not offering the help or encouragement someone expects. The "un-" prefix is the familiar English negator found in words like "unkind" and "unhappy", while "-ness" is one of the most productive noun-forming suffixes in English, attached to adjectives to name a quality. Because "-ness" can be added to almost any adjective, the word needs no special history of its own; its meaning follows directly from its parts.

Synonyms: unhelpfulness

Antonyms: supportiveness