Untoward

//ˌʌn.təˈwɔɹd// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Unfavourable, adverse, or disadvantageous.

    "But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred[…]"

  2. 2
    Unruly, troublesome; not easily guided.
  3. 3
    Unseemly, improper.

    "She could hardly have made a more untoward choice."

Adjective
  1. 1
    contrary to your interests or welfare wordnet
  2. 2
    not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
adversedifficultunbecomingunfavorableadverseadverse

Example

More examples

"The congressman has been in the spotlight ever since his untoward remarks about African Americans."

Etymology

From un- + toward (“to + -ward”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.