Unwholesome

//ˌənˈhoʊlsəm// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not wholesome; unfavorable to health; unhealthful.

    "unwholesome air, or food"

  2. 2
    Not sound; tainted; defective.

    "There was something indefinably unwholesome about him. Something lean and snakelike."

  3. 3
    Indicating unsound health; characteristic of or suggesting an unsound condition, physical or mental; repulsive; offensive.
Adjective
  1. 1
    detrimental to physical or moral well-being wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
insalubriousmorbidbadbad forbanefulcontaminated

Example

More examples

"The problem of interstellar travel was so enthralling that it sometimes became an obsession even to a fairly well-developed Utopian world. This could only occur if in the constitution of that world there was something unwholesome, some secret and unfulfilled hunger impelling the beings. The race might then become travel-mad."

Etymology

From Middle English unholsom; equivalent to un- + wholesome.

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