unhealthy

[ uhn-hel-thee ]

/ ʌnˈhɛl θi /

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adjective, un·health·i·er, un·health·i·est.

not in a state of good or normal health; in an unsound, weak, or morbid condition.

symptomatic of or resulting from bad health: an unhealthy pallor.

not conducive to good health; unhealthful: Night air was formerly considered unhealthy.

morally bad, harmful, or contaminating: unhealthy examples for the young.

dangerous; risky: Asking questions in this neighborhood can be unhealthy.

OTHER WORDS FOR unhealthy

1 sickly.

3 unhygienic, deleterious.

See synonyms for unhealthy on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of unhealthy

First recorded in 1585–95; un-¹ + healthy

OTHER WORDS FROM unhealthy

un·health·i·ly, adverbun·health·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use unhealthy in a sentence

Many already know that junk food can make people fat and physically unhealthy, says Richardson.
Warning! Junk foods can harm a teen’s brain|Sharon Oosthoek|November 19, 2020|Science News For Students
The goal is to equip students with the language to identify the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships.
Yeardley Love’s mother has spent a decade working to end relationship abuse|Taylor DeVille|November 11, 2020|Washington Post
Schneider said the shift isn’t about dropping everything considered unhealthy, but rather about a more conscious approach to the way we consume.
This snack food giant wants to wean us off our lockdown cravings|Bernhard Warner|November 7, 2020|Fortune
Residents across the western US had weeks of unhealthy air this summer owing to smoke from wildfires.
Healthy forests do more than just prevent wildfires|By Bales & Conklin/The Conversation|October 19, 2020|Popular-Science

You can be healthy, unhealthy, fit, or out of shape at just about any size.
How to get a six-pack (or even an eight-pack)|Sara Chodosh|September 4, 2020|Popular-Science
Wetland wildlife would get unhealthily wet, damaging unique ecosystems.
California Sinkin’: What Rising Sea Levels Will Mean for the Golden State|Alex Klein|June 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I imagined myself both melancholy and bitter and grew unhealthily romantic.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
Had he been a pig he would have been butchered long ago; he was going unhealthily to grease.
Medal of Honor|Dallas McCord Reynolds
The poor of the Western prairies lie almost as unhealthily close together as do the poor of the city tenements.
Other Main-Travelled Roads|Hamlin Garland
He was short and slender, with thin white hair and a smooth, satirical face, deeply wrinkled and unhealthily pale.
The Great God Success|John Graham (David Graham Phillips)
The poor of the western prairies lie almost as unhealthily close together as do the poor of the city tenements.
The Arena|Various

British Dictionary definitions for unhealthy

unhealthy

/ (ʌnˈhɛlθɪ) /

adjective -healthier or -healthiest

characterized by ill-health; sick; unwell

characteristic of, conducive to, or resulting from ill-healthan unhealthy complexion; an unhealthy atmosphere

morbid or unwholesome

informal dangerous; risky

Derived forms of unhealthy

unhealthily, adverbunhealthiness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

unhealthy

OTHER WORDS FOR unhealthy

Origin of unhealthy

OTHER WORDS FROM unhealthy

Words related to unhealthy

How to use unhealthy in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for unhealthy

Derived forms of unhealthy