Undesirable Meaning
/ˌʌndɪˈzaɪɹəbəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot desirable, objectionable or not likely to please.
nounAn undesirable person.
Sentence Examples
This movie may have an undesirable influence on children.
The color red can be associated with left-wing politics, fire, heat, blood, or undesirable events.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company fired the employee due to his ____ behavior, such as coming late and being rude.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new manager works hard to eliminate any ____ behaviors that could negatively affect the team's morale today.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English desirable English undesirable From un- + desirable.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There would be no need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings, which would clearly be most undesirable."
— 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
"Chronic venous disease includes cosmetically undesirable telangiectasias, varicose veins, venous ulceration, and claudication."
— 2008, Mary E. Klingensmith, The Washington Manual of Surgery, page 327:
"[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."
— 2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents:
"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."
— 1968, Gordon M. Williams, From Scenes Like These, William Morrow and Company, page 121:
"The Matchmaking Festival provided social events for these lonely-hearted pilgrims, and allowed local personages to keep undesirables away from their daughters."
— 2014, Lonely Planet, Best Place to be Today: 365 Things to do & the Perfect Day to do Them, →ISBN:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company fired the employee due to his ____ behavior, such as coming late and being rude.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new manager works hard to eliminate any ____ behaviors that could negatively affect the team's morale today.