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unhealthy

unhealthy

117 1.6
Not good for your health and likely to cause illness
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈhɛlθi/
translation icon : poco saludable
  • All of these factors put adolescent girls at risk for unhealthy lifestyles.
  • unhealthy food
  • unhealthy eating
  • unhealthy diet

So what do you do to manage these unhealthy coping behaviors?

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Examples

  • Childhood obesity is clearly associated with unhealthy eating habits and a lack of physical activity.

  • And we're all going to stop doing unhealthy things starting today.

  • You know, this is a very unhealthy place.

  • It's unhealthy for the kid.

  • For example, one study showed that girls were more likely to display unhealthy eating behaviors.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Childhood obesity is clearly associated with unhealthy eating habits and a lack of physical activity.

    Academic text (2013)
  • That cereal is full of unhealthy ingredients.

  • We also know that there tends to be more marketing of unhealthy foods in these communities.

Synonyms

unwholesome
vsunhealthy
4 6.3

Harmful to health or to how someone behaves

focuses on physical harm rather than moral judgment
unhygienic
vsunhealthy
3 4.8

Not clean and likely to make people sick

is more general and applies to any health risk not only hygiene issues
unhealthful
vsunhealthy
1 4.8

Harmful to your health and likely to make you sick

is the same meaning but uses a different adjective form
insanitary
vsunhealthy
1 6.9

Dirty and likely to cause disease

is broader and covers harm to health beyond mere dirtiness
insalubrious
vsunhealthy
  • Formal
9.9

A place that makes people likely to get sick

is broader and applies to anything harmful to health not only places

Antonyms

695 1.0

In good body and mind condition without sickness or injury

Compounds

A very strong focus on someone or something that harms your life

How Unhealthy

sick
1.0
unhealthy
117 1.6
healthy
695 1.0

Surface Forms

unhealthy positive
unhealthier comparative
unhealthiest superlative

Morphology

unhealthy = healthy (transparent) = un + health + y

Formed by adding the negative prefix 'un-' to 'healthy' (health + -y), so the negated meaning is directly inferable.

Etymology

The word unhealthy is made of the prefix un- 'not' and healthy, and healthy comes from an old word meaning 'whole', like the English word whole. So unhealthy literally means 'not whole' or not well, which is why we use it for things that can make you ill.