Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not conducive to good health; unhealthy.
  • adjective Suggestive of disease or bad health.
  • adjective Not conducive to morality; morally harmful.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not wholesome; unfavorable to health; insalubrious; unhealthful: as, unwholesome air; unwholesome food.
  • Not sound; diseased; tainted; impaired; defective.
  • Indicating unsound health; characteristic of or suggesting an unsound condition, physical or mental; hence, repulsive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not wholesome; unfavorable to health; insalubrious; unhealthy; as, unwholesome air; unwholesome food.
  • adjective Not sound; diseased; tainted; impaired; defective.
  • adjective Indicating unsound health; characteristic of or suggesting an unsound condition, physical or mental; repulsive; offensive.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective detrimental to physical or moral well-being

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word unwholesome.

Examples

  • She had been a soldier's wife, and had seen the world; infirmity, induced by fevers caught in unwholesome quarters, had come on her before its time, and she seldom moved from her little cot.

    II.8 1826

  • It could be recalled that the apex bank had last year August embarked on banking reforms that swept some new and old generation banks off their feet and had their Chief Executive officers fired over what it described as unwholesome banking practices bordering on alleged illegal acquisition of loans, shares and procedures.

    Vanguard azuakanwa 2010

  • What Greek teaching reached their minds was almost wholly that of the _ludi scenici_; and I must now say a word in conclusion about this unwholesome influence -- unwholesome, that is, so far as it affected the old religious ideas.

    The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus W. Warde Fowler 1884

  • But 't is called unwholesome to get a house full o 'damp in the fall o' the year; 't will freeze an 'thaw in the walls all winter.

    A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches Sarah Orne Jewett 1879

  • Meanwhile, the Jos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has described as unwholesome, unconstitutional and parochial, the resolution of the Federal House of Representatives which directed the management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to redeploy corps members posted to Plateau State to other states.

    Thisday Online 2010

  • Compassion is the desire that living beings be free of suffering and its causes, such as unwholesome actions.

    Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications William Harryman 2007

  • Thank you for such a smart dissection of an article like this, which I agree contributes to the kind of unwholesome blogosphere folderol that I try to avoid on my own blog.

    How to Irritate and Annoy People in the Name of Blogging « Whatever 2007

  • Now, in 2004, WC has associated itself with a movie that includes such "unwholesome" activities as; pot smoking, sex, and sexual perversion …Such dissonance is not lost on the company.

    August 2004 ladygoat 2004

  • Now, in 2004, WC has associated itself with a movie that includes such "unwholesome" activities as; pot smoking, sex, and sexual perversion …Such dissonance is not lost on the company.

    Harold and Kumar go to ... Krispy Kreme? ladygoat 2004

  • And if so, that suggests to me that there's something kind of unwholesome, perhaps, at work in all of this.

    CNN Transcript Feb 15, 2003 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "You are they

    That made the air unwholesome, when you cast

    Your stinking greasy caps in hooting at

    Coriolanus' exile."

    - William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'.

    August 29, 2009

  • Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

    February 12, 2011

  • Synonym for fun

    June 10, 2011