unpalatable
Americanadjective
-
not palatable; unpleasant to the taste.
-
disagreeable or unacceptable; obnoxious.
unpalatable behavior.
adjective
-
unpleasant to taste
-
difficult to accept
the unpalatable truth
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unpalatable
Explanation
Use the adjective unpalatable to describe something that tastes really bad, like a glass of unsweetened lemonade. Food is unpalatable if it tastes or smells terrible, but other non-edible things can also be described this way, if just thinking about them makes you cringe. You might find it unpalatable that some people starve while others have much more than they need, for example. Unpalatable is the antonym of palatable, meaning "good-tasting." It all started with the Latin root word palatum, meaning "roof of the mouth."
Vocabulary lists containing unpalatable
Power Prefix: un-
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Letter to Viceroy, Lord Irwin," Vocabulary from the argument
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Letter to Viceroy, Lord Irwin" by Mohandas K. Gandhi
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
As he’s classically rendered, Soames verges on unpalatable.
From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026
"But who can be the candidate? If it's Melenchon, they will probably lose," he said, adding too many people find him unpalatable.
From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026
Facing soaring memory-chip prices, the world’s biggest electronics companies are staring at a list of unpalatable responses: charging consumers more, eating the costs or rejiggering product specs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
But for some commentators, the call to name the province simply KwaZulu is an unpalatable reminder of Zulu nationalism and its potential dangers.
From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026
The bubbles were small, inconspicuous, and held a strange, unpalatable beauty when shafts of light pierced them and brightened his mouth with a briefly degraded spectrum of color.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
