Unholy
/ʌnˈhəʊli/ adj
adj ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Not holy; (by extension) evil, impure, or otherwise perverted.
"The priest's unholy behaviour brought the church into disrepute."
- 2 Dreadful, terrible, excessive, or otherwise atrocious.
"What an unholy mess your room is in!"
Adjective
- 1 extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell wordnet
- 2 having committed unrighteous acts wordnet
- 3 not hallowed or consecrated wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"A young woman most penitently confessed to a friend of mine that an unholy desire to read women's magazines was her besetting 'temptation'."
Etymology
From Middle English unholi, unhaliȝ, from Old English unhāliġ, from Proto-Germanic *unhailagaz, equivalent to un- + holy. Cognate with Scots unhaly, Dutch onheilig, German Low German unhillig, German unheilig, Danish uhellig, Swedish ohelig.