unsavory

especially British, un·sa·vour·y

[uhn-sey-vuh-ree]

adjective

1. not savory; tasteless or insipid.

   an unsavory meal.

   Synonyms: unappetizing, flat

2. unpleasant in taste or smell; distasteful.

3. unappealing or disagreeable, as a pursuit.

   Poor teachers can make education unsavory.

4. socially or morally objectionable or offensive.

   an unsavory past; an unsavory person.

Other Word Forms

• unsavorily adverb
• unsavoriness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of unsavory¹

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; un- ¹, savory ¹

Example Sentences

My whole career, I’ve been pretty good at taking an unsavory character and humanizing him.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

She held the envelope between two fingertips, as if it were something unsavory.

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While maintaining a fragile—and heartrending—composure, Ms. Manville’s Jocasta also reveals that she was not Laius’ only victim; it is implied that he was killed while heading to some sort of unsavory assignation.

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“Is it unsavory, some things the party did? Do we wish it was more gentlemanly? Yes, we do,” said Marshall Hurley, the state Republican Party’s former general counsel and a childhood friend of Newby.

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Owners should declutter their space, ensure that photos of the property are up to par, eliminate any unsavory smells, and consider if their home would benefit from professional staging, agents say.

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Related Words

• distasteful 
• nasty 
• objectionable 
• obnoxious 
• shady 
• unappetizing 
• unpalatable 
• unpleasant