unwholesome

English

Etymology

From Middle English unholsom; equivalent to un- +‎ wholesome.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌənˈhoʊlsəm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌənˈhəʊlsəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊlsəm
• Hyphenation: un‧whole‧some

Adjective

unwholesome (comparative more unwholesome, superlative most unwholesome)

1. Not wholesome; unfavorable to health; unhealthful.

   unwholesome air, or food

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4:

     Caliban: As wicked dewe, as ere my mother bruſh'd / With Rauens feather from vnwholeſome Fen / Drop on you both : A Southweſt blow on yee, / And bliſter you all ore.

   • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Enchantress, page 17:

     Alas! he mastered not his destiny: I have said before, his ashes are in yonder urn. A few unwholesome dews on a summer night were mightier than all his science.

2. Not sound; tainted; defective.
   • 2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 184:

     There was something indefinably unwholesome about him. Something lean and snakelike.

3. Indicating unsound health; characteristic of or suggesting an unsound condition, physical or mental; repulsive; offensive.

Antonyms

• wholesome

Derived terms

• unwholesomely
• unwholesomeness

Translations

not wholesome

• Bulgarian: нездравословен (bg) (nezdravosloven)
• Esperanto: nesalubra
• Faroese: ósunnur
• French: malsain (fr), nocif (fr), insalubre (fr)
• German: ungesund (de), unheilsam
• Hebrew: חולני
• Hungarian: ártalmas (hu), káros (hu), egészségtelen (hu), kártékony (hu), mérgező (hu), mérges (hu)
• Irish: anfholláin

  Old Irish: anḟolláin, inanfollán

• Italian: malsano (it), insalubre (it), sfavorevole (it)
• Latin: morbidus
• Manx: neufollan, neuslayntoil
• Romanian: insalubru (ro), nesănătos (ro), nociv (ro)
• Russian: вре́дный (ru) (vrédnyj), нездоровый (ru) (nezdorovyj)

corrupt morally

• Hungarian: veszedelmes (hu), ártalmas (hu), bomlasztó (hu), kártékony (hu), mérgező (hu), romboló (hu), romlott (hu), erkölcstelen (hu)
• Italian: corrotto (it)

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “unwholesome”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.