Both Uses of
ostentatious
in
Billy Budd
- ...the official's self-possessed and somewhat ostentatious manner...
Chpt 18 *ostentatious = intended to attract notice and impress others
- And the more that some sort of trouble should really be apprehended the more do the officers keep that apprehension to themselves; tho' not the less unostentatious vigilance may be augmented.†
Chpt 23unostentatious = not intended to attract notice and impress othersstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unostentatious means not and reverses the meaning of ostentatious. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definition:
intended to attract notice and impress others -- especially with wealth in a vulgar way