undisciplined
Britishadjective
Explanation
Undisciplined means uncontrolled or disorderly. An undisciplined bunch of dogs is nearly impossible to walk down the sidewalk together: they all want to run in different directions, chase squirrels, and bark wildly. When you take the word disciplined, "showing control or order," and add un-, or "not," to it, you get undisciplined. This is a great way to describe an out-of-control classroom, an athlete whose explosive anger gets her kicked off the field, or someone who can't manage his own money well, spending an entire paycheck all in one place.
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.
“His mind was, from what I could see, largely undisciplined, which is how he could make these connections so unexpectedly and usefully, but not always usefully,” Crocker said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
I’m old enough to remember when friends in the Arkansas political press corps scoffed at the notion their governor, the phenomenally gifted but wildly undisciplined Bill Clinton, could ever be elected president.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2025
Playing Fresno State presents one final chance for the Bruins to change the narrative that they’re undisciplined.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2024
If anything, it tends toward the other extreme, being undisciplined in terms of messaging and organizing.
From Salon • Aug. 22, 2024
To their dismay, the teenage leaders found their troops shockingly out of shape, overage, undisciplined, and less than enthusiastic.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Definitions 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.
