Unteacher
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A popular teacher who focuses on fun activities but lacks pedagogical rigor. derogatory
"“Dawson the Doubter,” he calls himself; by this epithet we understand he takes pride in being known — that is a very good quality for an Un'''teacher, scarcely a recommendation for a teacher ."
- 2 Someone who helps others unlearn or overcome unhealthy social conditioning.
"But I love my unteachers — the feminist thinkers and writers and talkers and poets and artists and singers and critics and friends, from Wollstonecraft and Woolf through the furies and glories of the seventies and eighties […]"
- 3 One who guides students in self-directed learning, a teacher involved in unschooling.
"I call myself an unteacher. When you do well in my class you get a balloon that reads, " From your unteacher for being a good unstudent.""
Example
More examples"“Dawson the Doubter,” he calls himself; by this epithet we understand he takes pride in being known — that is a very good quality for an Un'''teacher, scarcely a recommendation for a teacher ."
Etymology
From un- + teacher.
More for "unteacher"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.