unmerchantable
- adjective
- /ʌnˈmɜrʧəntəbl/
- These fruits are unmerchantable due to their bruised skins and poor quality.
Examples
-
The furniture was deemed unmerchantable because it was damaged and could not be sold.
-
After inspection, the inspector labeled the goods as unmerchantable because they did not meet market standards.
-
For example, even clear-cut harvesting may have little negative effect on soil C and N content when unmerchantable biomass residues, such as leaves and twigs, are left onsite (Johnson and Curtis 2001).
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
1
6.1
Hard to sell because buyers do not want it
1
6.0
People cannot buy, sell, or exchange it
1
6.5
A thing too damaged or unwanted for people to buy
1
5.7
You cannot buy or sell it in a market
Not fit to sell because it is damaged or spoiled
Antonyms
How Marketable
Surface Forms
Morphology
unmerchantable = merchantable (transparent) = un + merchant + able
The prefix 'un-' straightforwardly negates 'merchantable' (itself merchant + -able), so the immediate derivation is easily interpretable.
Etymology
Unmerchantable breaks into un- meaning 'not' and merchant meaning 'seller', just like in the common words merchant and market, so it describes goods that are 'not fit for sale'.