uninhabitable

British  

/ ˌʌnɪnˈhæbɪtəbəl /

adjective

1. not capable of being lived in

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Explanation

When it's impossible to live somewhere, that place is uninhabitable. A house is uninhabitable if is missing basic things like a roof and heat. Buildings are considered uninhabitable when they are dangerous, with holes in the floor, or exposed electrical wires that pose a fire hazard. It's not safe for people to live in those conditions. Uninhabitable regions of the world might be too cold or too hot — or, in the case of Brazil's Ilha da Queimada Grande, or "Snake Island," they might be overrun with venomous snakes.

Example Sentences

Others all around are boarded up and uninhabitable.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

After the quake, thousands of people whose homes had been made uninhabitable or who feared aftershocks slept out for weeks by the moat, but it is once again the preserve of morning joggers and sightseers.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

They also highlighted an additional 24 planets within a more restrictive 3D habitable zone, based on tighter assumptions about how much heat a planet can tolerate before becoming uninhabitable.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2026

As it happens, the disaster in the northern Japanese city has left the area uninhabitable even today, but the possibilities had approached the apocalyptic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

Given that the Ice Age made Europe north of the Loire Valley uninhabitable until some eighteen thousand years ago, the Western Hemisphere should perhaps no longer be described as the “New World.”

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann