undesirable

English

Etymology

un- +‎ desirable

Adjective

undesirable (comparative more undesirable, superlative most undesirable)

1. objectionable or not likely to please
   • 1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm, chapter 6

     There would be no need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings, which would clearly be most undesirable.

   • 2008, Mary E. Klingensmith, The Washington Manual of Surgery (page 327)

     Chronic venous disease includes cosmetically undesirable telangiectasias, varicose veins, venous ulceration, and claudication.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "undesirable" is often applied: effect, consequence, result, element, change, person, substance, characteristic, quality, feature, behavior, activity, thing, event, reaction, state.

Antonyms

• desirable

Translations

objectionable or not likely to please

• Catalan: indesitjable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不受歡迎的, 不受欢迎的 (bù shòu huānyíng de)

• Czech: nežádoucí m
• Dutch: ongewenst (nl)
• Finnish: epämieluinen, epämieluisa
• French: indésirable (fr)
• German: unerwünscht (de)

• Greek: ανεπιθύμητος (el) m (anepithýmitos)
• Italian: indesiderabile m, f
• Japanese: 望ましくない (nozomashiku nai), 望まれない (nozomarenai)
• Norwegian (bokmål): uønska/uønsket/uønskt
• Norwegian (nynorsk): uynskt/uønskt
• Portuguese: indesejável (pt)
• Romanian: nedorit (ro) m
• Russian: нежелательный (ru) m (neželátelʹnyj)
• Spanish: indeseable (es)
• Thai: ไม่พึงประสงค์ (mâi peung pràsŏng)

Noun

undesirable (plural undesirables)

1. an undesirable person

Translations

an undesirable person

• Finnish: ei-toivottu henkilö
• Greek: ανεπιθύμητος (el) m (anepithýmitos)

• Portuguese: indesejável (pt) m, f
• Spanish: indeseable (es)