Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
unrewarding

unrewarding

1 4.8
Does not make you feel satisfied or successful
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌn.rɪˈwɔːr.dɪŋ/
: poco gratificante
  • Clive Newton: Primarily for me, what we're trying to prevent is older people leading lonely, boring, miserable, and unrewarding lives.

Now see, I, I, I had the dream, but I didn't know that the day-to-day process would be so unrewarding for me.

Examples

  • The problem with most people is that they're playing the world's most unrewarding game, and the name of the game is follow the follower.

  • Many students find repetitive tasks in the classroom to be unrewarding.

  • "Being a G.A. is hard work, sometimes unrewarding, but it is a great experience."

    Academic text (1992)

  • That's actually why the Vision Pro is so expensive and yet so unrewarding for many users.

  • Focused on the outcome, the job will be onerous and unrewarding for them.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Indeed, the task of planting a garden at all seemed terribly heavy and unrewarding.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Music teachers who find their profession unrewarding and unsatisfying will likely communicate these feelings to students.

    Academic text (2003)

  • After leaving Jory's, I realized what a miserable, unrewarding, uneventful life I've been leading.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The debate felt unrewarding as it led to no real conclusions or insights.

  • Working on that project was an unrewarding experience, as none of my ideas were considered.

Synonyms

unsatisfying
vsunrewarding
11 3.7

Less good than you expected and leaving you disappointed

stresses a deeper absence of reward or real achievement
unfulfilling
vsunrewarding
3 5.5

Something that does not make you feel satisfied or successful

emphasizes lacking reward or general satisfaction rather than achievement
ungratifying
vsunrewarding
1 7.7

Not giving pleasure or reward

has identical meaning and serves as an alternative form

Antonyms

satisfying
122 2.2

A pleasant feeling of being happy when a need or wish is met

rewarding
93 3.5

An activity or experience that makes you feel good and successful

How Rewarding

rewarding
93 3.5
fulfilling
45 3.9
satisfying
122 2.2
unrewarding
1 4.8
unfulfilling
3 5.5

Surface Forms

unrewarding positive

Morphology

unrewarding = rewarding (transparent) = un + reward + ing

Formed by negating the adjective 'rewarding' with the productive prefix 'un-', so the meaning is directly the opposite of 'rewarding'.

Etymology

Unrewarding is made from un- meaning 'not' and reward meaning 'a prize or payment'. So something 'unrewarding' gives no prize, pleasure, or feeling of success.