Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

unhealthy

UK/ʌnˈhɛl.θi/US/ʌnˈhɛl.θi/
adjectiveB1+2 meaningsCommon in everyday speech and writing · #6,665 of 15,258neutral

Unhealthy means bad for the body, or not in good health. A diet of chips, or a person who looks grey.

It works in both directions, describing the cause and the state, so unhealthy food makes for an unhealthy heart. It also describes appearance, and an unhealthy pallor is one of the standard phrases of fiction. The most interesting use is figurative and about the mind, since an unhealthy interest or an unhealthy obsession means something has gone wrong in the proportion of it. That sense is always a warning.

Definitions of unhealthy

  1. 1adjectiveunhealthyHarmful to health, or not in good health.B1+

    “He lived on an unhealthy diet of takeaways.”

  2. 2adjectiveexcessiveExcessive in a way that is not good for you.B2

    “She has an unhealthy interest in other people's business.”

Where it comes from

From un- + healthy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Word Building

First appears in chapter 39 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

Related words

  • health
  • healthy