Dictionary

undesirable en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˌʌndɪˈzaɪɹəbəl/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English desirable English undesirable From un- + desirable.

Meanings

1. Not desirable, objectionable or not likely to please.
   • There would be no need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings, which would clearly be most undesirable. 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
   • [David] Brog spoke movingly of his immigrant grandfather as a triumph of the assimilationist model—a Romanian Jew who emigrated to America, learned English, and became a good patriotic American—but failed to mention that the 1924 Immigration Act was designed specifically to exclude Eastern European Jews (among other undesirable European ethnic groups) from entering the country. 2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents:
   • Chronic venous disease includes cosmetically undesirable telangiectasias, varicose veins, venous ulceration, and claudication. 2008, Mary E. Klingensmith, The Washington Manual of Surgery, page 327:

Forms

Antonyms

desirable

Deriveds

undesirability · undesirableness · undesirably

Translations (34)

ro nedorit (objectionable or not likely to please) · nn uynskt (objectionable or not likely to please) · fi epämieluinen (objectionable or not likely to please) · nb uønska (objectionable or not likely to please) · de unerwünscht (objectionable or not likely to please) · ja 望まれない (objectionable or not likely to please) · ka არასასურველი (objectionable or not likely to please) · gl indesexábel (objectionable or not likely to please) · fi epämieluisa (objectionable or not likely to please) · pl niepożądany (objectionable or not likely to please) · hu nemkívánatos (objectionable or not likely to please) · az arzuolunmaz (objectionable or not likely to please) · nl ongewenst (objectionable or not likely to please) · pt indesejável (objectionable or not likely to please) · ca indesitjable (objectionable or not likely to please) · cs nežádoucí (objectionable or not likely to please) · ja 望ましくない (objectionable or not likely to please) · fr indésirable (objectionable or not likely to please) · ru нежела́тельный (objectionable or not likely to please) · bg нежела́телен (objectionable or not likely to please) · nn uønskt (objectionable or not likely to please) · es indeseable (objectionable or not likely to please) · nb uønskt (objectionable or not likely to please) · da uønsket (objectionable or not likely to please) · it indesiderabile (objectionable or not likely to please) · sv oönskad (objectionable or not likely to please) · cmn 不受歡迎的 /不受欢迎的 (objectionable or not likely to please) · sv icke-önskvärd (objectionable or not likely to please) · nb uønsket (objectionable or not likely to please) · nb uønskelig (objectionable or not likely to please) · th ไม่พึงประสงค์ (objectionable or not likely to please) · el ανεπιθύμητος (objectionable or not likely to please) · nl onwenselijk (objectionable or not likely to please) · da uønskelig (objectionable or not likely to please)

undesirable en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˌʌndɪˈzaɪɹəbəl/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English desirable English undesirable From un- + desirable.

Meanings

1. (in-plural, often) An undesirable person.
   • The Matchmaking Festival provided social events for these lonely-hearted pilgrims, and allowed local personages to keep undesirables away from their daughters. 2014, Lonely Planet, Best Place to be Today: 365 Things to do & the Perfect Day to do Them, →ISBN:
   • Barskiven Road was The Undesirables. Bad corporation tenants (didn't pay their rents, didn't dig their gardens, let their kids smash up windows) were transferred to The Undesirables until they showed they'd improved. His mother called them scum. Barskiven Road houses had all-metal fittings. Only the window panes could be broken, unless you had a blow-torch. McCann said they'd have them, soon. At the dancing blokes always made jokes if they knew a dame was from The Undesirables. It was supposed to be the worst street in the whole of Kilcaddie. 1968, Gordon M. Williams, From Scenes Like These, William Morrow and Company, page 121:
   • The Camden Bench is not an anomaly: more and more, our cities are being designed to keep those deemed as ‘undesirables’ out. By its very nature this is ‘hostile architecture’—urban design with a focus on exclusion, design that inhibits community and tells us who is welcome and who is not. 2020, Noreena Hertz, The Lonely Century, →ISBN:

Forms

Synonyms

mesel · and troublemaker · jerk · villain

Translations (8)

pt indesejável (an undesirable person) · el ανεπιθύμητος (an undesirable person) · id pengacau (an undesirable person) · eo nedezirato (an undesirable person) · pl osoba niepożądana (an undesirable person) · fi ei-toivottu (an undesirable person) · th บุคคลไม่พึงประสงค์ (an undesirable person) · es indeseable (an undesirable person)