🏚️ Impossible to keep ⚖️ Cannot be defended

unmaintainable

7.6

Too damaged or complex to keep in good condition

adjective
/ˌʌnmeɪnˈteɪnəbl/

: insostenible

We used many languages, but the complex and difficult stuff was all done in ML, and that was a rewrite of a program that had originally been done in C, which had been found to be undebuggable and unmaintainable in that form, and so rewritten by the team responsible for it in their preferred language.

Examples

If the codebase becomes too large and disorganized, it may eventually become unmaintainable.
Spreadsheets are unmaintainable and error-prone because the formulas are hidden and can be overridden with fixed data at any time.

Blog text (20)
Sadly, Java is a huge pile of totally useless and unmaintainable (has anyone thought of the cost of maintaining a purely noun-based landscape?) crap.

Blog text (19)
The outdated software is now unmaintainable due to its complicated structure.
When a project relies on too many outdated libraries, it can quickly turn unmaintainable.

Synonyms

unsustainable

vsunmaintainable

45 5.0

Not able to continue in the same way for a long time

is impossible or extremely difficult to keep in good condition long term

irretrievable

vsunmaintainable

4 8.5

You cannot get it back or fix it after it is lost

is mainly about the difficulty of keeping something in good condition

unfixable

vsunmaintainable

3 4.9

Impossible to repair or make work again

is about being impossible or extremely difficult to keep functioning or supported

unsalvageable

vsunmaintainable

3 7.5

So damaged that it cannot be saved or fixed

is about being impossible or extremely difficult to keep working or supported

unviable

vsunmaintainable

2 6.4

Not able to succeed or continue, for example a project

focuses on being impossible or extremely difficult to keep functioning or supported

nonviable

vsunmaintainable

1 7.8

Not able to live, develop, or succeed

is about being impossible or extremely difficult to keep in usable condition or support

unrepairable

vsunmaintainable

1 4.7

Too damaged to be fixed and used again

is about being impossible or extremely difficult to keep in good working order

inviable

vsunmaintainable

1 8.2

Not able to continue or be successful

is about being impossible or extremely difficult to keep in good condition over time

nonsustainable

vsunmaintainable

7.2

Cannot continue without using up resources or causing harm

is about being impossible or very difficult to keep in good condition not resource harm

Antonyms

maintainable

1 4.8

Easy to keep in good condition with little work

How Maintainable

low-maintenance

8 3.6

durable

56 3.6

maintainable

1 4.8

unmaintainable

7.6

Surface Forms

unmaintainable positive

Morphology

unmaintainable = maintainable (transparent) = un + maintain + able

Formed by prefixing 'un-' to 'maintainable' to give the negated meaning 'not able to be maintained', a direct and regular negation.

Etymology

Unmaintainable is made from un- 'not', maintain 'keep' and -able 'able to', and you can think of maintain like manual which links to 'hand' and 'hold'. So it literally means 'not able to be kept', which is why we use it for something that cannot be kept in good condition or continued.