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Glite Dictionary
unedifying

unedifying

1 8.4
Not helping people learn or become better
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌnɪˈdɪfaɪɪŋ/
translation icon : poco edificante
  • The Economist: "As a result, this election offers American voters an unedifying choice."

Examples

  • So I think they should just, honestly, the whole thing is deeply unedifying for any member of the royal family.

  • The debate instantly became loud, unedifying, and ugly.

    Blog text (2)

  • What is happening here behind the unedifying drama of violence and feud within a dysfunctional family?

  • Her run-in with Cleophus had been downright unedifying.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Far from adding a dimension, even a dimension of imperfection, to his humanity, they diminished it, and hers as well, in the most unedifying way.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Republicans believed they had hit a rhetorical mother lode with this line of argument in 2008, but their efforts to make hay of Obama's putative socialism proved unedifying, if not outright comic.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The public was disappointed by the political scandal, which was an unedifying affair that revealed the worst of political life.

  • The documentary was criticized for its unedifying portrayal of the city, focusing only on crime and corruption.

  • Many found the celebrity feud to be unedifying, as it revealed little of substance and encouraged petty behavior.

Synonyms

unenlightening
vsunedifying
6.9

Does not give useful information or new understanding

focuses on lack of moral or intellectual improvement rather than factual information

Antonyms

enlightening
43 4.5

Helps you understand something in a new, clearer way

edifying
  • Formal
5 6.8

Helping people learn moral and useful ideas for life

How Edifying

edifying
  • Formal
5 6.8
enlightening
43 4.5
informative
94 3.5
unedifying
1 8.4

Surface Forms

unedifying positive
unedifyinger comparative
unedifyingest superlative

Morphology

unedifying = edifying (transparent) = un + edify + ing

The adjective is formed by negating 'edifying' with productive English 'un-', so the meaning 'not providing moral or intellectual improvement' is directly derived.

Etymology

Unedifying is made from un- 'not' and edify, which comes from an old Latin word meaning 'to build' and is the same root as edifice ('building'). So something unedifying does not 'build you up' and does not make you better or wiser.