unpleasant

[uhn-plez-uhnt]

adjective

1. not pleasant; displeasing; disagreeable; offensive.

   an unpleasant taste; an unpleasant situation; an unpleasant manner.

unpleasant

/ ʌnˈplɛzənt /

adjective

1. not pleasant or agreeable

Other Word Forms

• unpleasantly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of unpleasant¹

First recorded in 1525–35; un- ¹ + pleasant

Example Sentences

It reminds one of how Charles Dickens, in response to Britain’s 19th-century Poor Law, an amendment to earlier poor laws, that required the poor to live in purposely unpleasant workhouses, wrote “Oliver Twist.”

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European policymakers have faced a number of unpleasant surprises over recent years.

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During the summer, these floating mats of brown algae collect in large amounts on beaches where they decay and release an unpleasant smell.

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It was all quite backward and unpleasant, but that was how the Babushkinov household ran.

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“I once heard Lord Fredrick’s mother say that he was a most unpleasant man.”

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Related Words

• disagreeable 
• distasteful 
• nasty 
• obnoxious 
• sour 
• troublesome 
• undesirable 
• unpalatable