unethical
Americanadjective
-
lacking moral principles; unwilling to adhere to proper rules of conduct.
-
not in accord with the standards of a profession.
She treated patients outside the area of her training, and the appropriate medical organization punished her unethical behavior.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unethical
Compare meaning
How does unethical compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Eating the last cookie without sharing? That's just mean. But if you stole that cookie and then lied about it, that would be morally wrong, or unethical. The prefix un- means "not," so something or someone who's unethical is literally "not ethical." In other words, that someone is lacking principles or morals. Because being unethical involves going against social or professional expectations of what's right, it's a word that's often used to describe bad behavior or immoral conduct. So like the great philosophers, you can decide if Cookie Monster has an ethics problem — or just bad eating habits.
Vocabulary lists containing unethical
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Power Prefix: un-
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The Phantom Tollbooth
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Although many of the agents noted in writing that their actions were unethical, none told a human.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Researchers, including Cotra, wrote in their independent report that many agents noticed what others were doing was unethical but went along with it.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
A bipartisan package of bills aimed at punishing unethical attorneys and hedge funds that have flourished within California’s legal industry is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Most of the rosy posts made some mention of the fact that Columbia House’s operation was unethical at best, but that the customer-service runarounds, unwelcome bills and general scuzziness had all faded with time.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
One of the most reliable ways to acquire papers was through bribery, and this was the only area where I tolerated what were often unethical means of obtaining information.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
