unpleasantness

[uhn-plez-uhnt-nis]

noun

1. the quality or state of being unpleasant.

2. something that is displeasing or offensive, as an experience, event, or situation.

   An unpleasantness made them ill-at-ease.

3. an unpleasant feeling or sensation caused by disagreeable or painful stimuli.

Word History and Origins

Origin of unpleasantness¹

First recorded in 1540–50; unpleasant + -ness

Example Sentences

“There’s been so much hatred and so much unpleasantness. I want to do everything I can to make relations better,” she said.

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The right-wing intelligentsia has seemed to see this as a kind of respectable fascism — without all the 20th century unpleasantness with which the term is associated.

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That the unpleasantness turns out to be time well spent is a credit to Leigh’s curiosity about miserable jerks and the joy-sucking traps they set for themselves and others.

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And that personality, rather than changing from an "old" to a "new" Carter, had to be examined as a set of layers of faith, of action, even of unpleasantnesses.

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Those who fall ill can still suffer from the unpleasantness of being acutely sick for weeks.

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Related Words

• animosity 
• antagonism