Unwise

//ʌnˈwaɪz// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not wise; lacking wisdom

    "unwise man"

Adjective
  1. 1
    not appropriate to the purpose wordnet
  2. 2
    showing or resulting from lack of judgment or wisdom wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
foolishimpoliticbadbarmyboneheadedbrainless

Example

More examples

"It would be unwise, not to say stupid, of you to quit your first job after only six months."

Etymology

From Middle English unwis, from Old English unwīs (“unwise, foolish, ignorant, uninformed, insane”), equivalent to un- + wise. Cognate with Dutch onwijs (“unwise”), German unweise (“unwise”), Danish uvis (“unwise”), Swedish ovis (“unwise”), Icelandic óvís (“unwise”).

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