Unfair Meaning
/ʌnˈfɛə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot fair.
adjNot fair., Not just.
Sentence Examples
You should have refused such an unfair proposal.
Unfair tariffs are imposed on foreign products.
They had been given an unfair advantage.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The judge gave a harsh sentence to the poor man, which many thought was ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Many people felt that the new rules were ____ and that they favored certain groups over several other people today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English unfair (“unattractive, unseemly”), from Old English unfæġer (“ugly”), equivalent to un- + fair.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair."
— 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2017, page 162:
"Cuphead built a reputation for difficulty before release, but its boss battles are mostly about recognizing patterns than getting lucky against unfair bosses. Watching players ace their way through the game’s bosses is a spellbinding reminder that even tough games can be defeated easily with hard work."
— 2017 October 2, Heather Alexandra, “Cuphead Player Beats Bosses Without Taking A Single Hit”, in Kotaku, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2018:
"Khan countered this by alleging that 'unfair' conditions, such as raising council tax, are being attached to any new funding deal that would "punish Londoners" for the effect the pandemic has had on passenger numbers. He added: "These short-term deals are trapping TfL on life support rather than putting it on the path to long-term sustainability.""
— 2022 January 12, “Network News: Further extension to Transport for London emergency funding”, in RAIL, number 948, page 8:
"Those hours that with gentle work did frame / The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell / Will play the tyrants to the very same / And that unfair which fairly doth excel."
— 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 5”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The judge gave a harsh sentence to the poor man, which many thought was ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Many people felt that the new rules were ____ and that they favored certain groups over several other people today.