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unhealthful

unhealthful

1 4.8
Harmful to your health and likely to make you sick
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈhɛlθfəl/
translation icon : insalubre
  • Breathing unhealthful air can lead to serious health issues over time.
  • unhealthful behaviors
  • unhealthful practices

And we don't have a definitive study that says for most people who are trying to avoid heart disease and aging, it's a helpful, unhealthful food.

Examples

  • It's the hydrogenated, over-processed oils and fats that are unhealthful.

    Blog text (17)
  • Each day, nearly half of all Americans go about their daily lives breathing unhealthful levels of ozone pollution.

    Blog text (8)
  • We have unhealthful air quality today throughout the Los Angeles Basin.

  • Get off the junk food and unhealthful habits of hanging with the crowd that limits your ability to pursue your life.

    Blog text (17)
  • Physicians have been and always will be responsible for using their knowledge to let their patients know which habits are unhealthful and how to change them, and for exercising their authority to encourage such change.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Washington and Baltimore are the major cities nearest to the study area, so unhealthful concentrations of ozone are present and available for transport throughout the region.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Prior studies have been quantitative in nature and have attempted to examine the effects of exposure to rap and how it relates to certain unhealthful behaviors.

    Academic text (2007)
  • In addition to product reformulations, unhealthful foods were eliminated, and healthful substitutions and additions were introduced.

    Academic text (2012)
  • They observed a strong association between psychological stress and unhealthful weight control practices (vomiting, fasting, and binge eating) among healthy adults.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Low SES is associated with greater risk of ill health and premature death, partly attributable to disproportionately high prevalence of unhealthful lifestyle practices and physical and mental health conditions.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

dangerous
vsunhealthful
1.5

Likely to cause harm or injury

is specific to causing ill health rather than general threats or risks
harmful
vsunhealthful
161 2.6

Causing damage to people, animals or things

is limited to harm that affects physical health rather than any damage
unhealthy
vsunhealthful
117 1.6

Not good for your health and likely to cause illness

is the less common, slightly more formal adjective form than the everyday one
unsafe
vsunhealthful
93 1.1

Likely to cause harm to people or damage to things

is about harm to physical health rather than general safety risks
unsanitary
vsunhealthful
16 3.7

Not clean and likely to cause illness

is broader, covering harm to health not only caused by dirtiness
unwholesome
vsunhealthful
4 6.3

Harmful to health or to how someone behaves

is focused on physical health harm rather than moral judgment
unhygienic
vsunhealthful
3 4.8

Not clean and likely to make people sick

is the broader health harm sense not limited to hygiene failures
insanitary
vsunhealthful
1 6.9

Dirty and likely to cause disease

is the overall harmful-to-health meaning beyond only unclean conditions
insalubrious
vsunhealthful
  • Formal
9.9

A place that makes people likely to get sick

is broader, used for harm to health in any context not only places

Antonyms

15 3.2

Good for the body and keeps you from getting sick

How Harmful

lethal
193 4.8
dangerous
1.5
hazardous
98 5.2
unhealthful
1 4.8
harmless
231 1.0

Surface Forms

unhealthful positive

Morphology

unhealthful = healthful (transparent) = un + health + ful

The negative prefix 'un-' directly negates the adjective 'healthful', making the derivation straightforward.

Etymology

The word unhealthful starts with un- meaning 'not' and the rest is healthful, made from health and -ful meaning 'full of health', so unhealthful literally means 'not full of health' and therefore 'harmful or bad for your health'.