uneconomical
Britishadjective
Explanation
Leaving all your lights on all the time is an uneconomical, or wasteful. Rewriting this sentence using five hundred words would be an uneconomical, or inefficient, use of language. You may think you've made an uneconomical choice when you spend too much money on dinner, but sometimes the government gets criticized for being uneconomical with taxpayer money for spending several hundred dollars on a special type of paperweight or screwdriver that could have been purchased for much less.
Vocabulary lists containing uneconomical
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.
This has proved uneconomical for its owners, whose profit margins are squeezed by Britain’s high industrial energy costs among other factors.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
The unit has become uneconomical to run, its owners said, and the cost of compelling it to remain online will ultimately fall on ratepayers in the area.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026
Oil at $50 a barrel may be uneconomical for some.
From Barron's • Jan. 6, 2026
With the surge in gold prices, Winmill said new mines are coming online, while older ones that were uneconomical when gold was at $2,000 an ounce are looking to ramp up production.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 20, 2025
In addition, the largest domestic mammals interacted with domestic plants to increase food production by pulling plows and thereby making it possible for people to till land that had previously been uneconomical for farming.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
