undesirable

undesirable

English

Etymology

un- +‎ desirable

Pronunciation

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Adjective

undesirable (comparative more undesirable, superlative most undesirable)

1. objectionable or not likely to please
   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     There would be no need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings, which would clearly be most undesirable.

   • 2008, Mary E. Klingensmith, The Washington Manual of Surgery (page 327)

     Chronic venous disease includes cosmetically undesirable telangiectasias, varicose veins, venous ulceration, and claudication.

   • 2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents‎:

     [David] Brog spoke movingly of his immigrant grandfather as a triumph of the assimilationist model—a Romanian Jew who emigrated to America, learned English, and became a good patriotic American—but failed to mention that the 1924 Immigration Act was designed specifically to exclude Eastern European Jews (among other undesirable European ethnic groups) from entering the country.

Antonyms

• desirable

Derived terms

• undesirability
• undesirableness

Collocations

with nouns

• undesirable effect
• undesirable consequence
• undesirable result
• undesirable element
• undesirable change
• undesirable person
• undesirable substance
• undesirable characteristic
• undesirable quality
• undesirable feature
• undesirable behavior
• undesirable activity
• undesirable thing
• undesirable event
• undesirable reaction
• undesirable state

Translations

objectionable or not likely to please

Azerbaijani: arzuolunmaz Bulgarian: нежела́телен (bg) (neželátelen) Catalan: indesitjable Chinese: Mandarin: 不受歡迎的／不受欢迎的 (bù shòu huānyíng de) Czech: nežádoucí (cs) m Danish: uønskelig, uønsket (da) Dutch: ongewenst (nl), onwenselijk (nl) Finnish: epämieluinen, epämieluisa French: indésirable (fr) Galician: indesexábel (gl) m or f Georgian: არასასურველი (arasasurveli) German: unerwünscht (de) Greek: ανεπιθύμητος (el) m (anepithýmitos) Hungarian: nemkívánatos (hu) Italian: indesiderabile m or f Japanese: 望ましくない (ja) (nozomashiku nai), 望まれない (ja) (nozomarenai) Norwegian: Bokmål: uønska, uønsket (no), uønskt, uønskelig Nynorsk: uynskt, uønskt Polish: niepożądany (pl) Portuguese: indesejável (pt) Romanian: nedorit (ro) m Russian: нежела́тельный (ru) m (neželátelʹnyj) Spanish: indeseable (es) Swedish: oönskad (sv), icke-önskvärd Thai: ไม่พึงประสงค์ (mâi peung pràsŏng)

Noun

undesirable (plural undesirables)

1. An undesirable person.
   • 1968, Williams, Gordon M., From Scenes Like These‎, William Morrow and Company, page 121:

     Barskiven Road was The Undesirables. Bad corporation tenants (didn't pay their rents, didn't dig their gardens, let their kids smash up windows) were transferred to The Undesirables until they showed they'd improved. His mother called them scum. Barskiven Road houses had all-metal fittings. Only the window panes could be broken, unless you had a blow-torch. McCann said they'd have them, soon. At the dancing blokes always made jokes if they knew a dame was from The Undesirables. It was supposed to be the worst street in the whole of Kilcaddie.

Synonyms

• mesel (obs.), see also Thesaurus:criminal, jerk, villain, and troublemaker

Translations

an undesirable person

Esperanto: nedezirato Finnish: ei-toivottu (adjective) Greek: ανεπιθύμητος (el) m (anepithýmitos) Indonesian: pengacau (id) Portuguese: indesejável (pt) m or f Spanish: indeseable (es)