UNHEALTHY (unhealthier, unhealthiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: unhealthier    , unhealthiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unhealthy mean? 

• UNHEALTHY (adjective)
  The adjective UNHEALTHY has 3 senses:

1. not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind

2. detrimental to health

3. not conducive to good health

  Familiarity information: UNHEALTHY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNHEALTHY (adjective)

Comparative: unhealthier   
Superlative: unhealthiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind

Context example:

unhealthy ulcers

Similar:

diseased; morbid; pathologic; pathological (caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology)

dropsical; edematous (swollen with an excessive accumulation of fluid)

enlarged (larger than normal)

foaming; foamy; frothing (producing or covered with lathery sweat or saliva from exhaustion or disease)

gangrenous; mortified (suffering from tissue death)

inflamed (resulting from inflammation; hot and swollen and reddened)

inflammatory (characterized or caused by inflammation)

ingrowing; ingrown (growing abnormally into the flesh)

icteric; jaundiced; yellow (affected by jaundice which causes yellowing of skin etc)

membrane-forming; membranous (characterized by formation of a membrane (or something resembling a membrane))

mental (affected by a disorder of the mind)

pro-inflammatory; proinflammatory (tending to cause inflammation)

sallow; sickly (unhealthy looking)

sore-eyed (having sore eyes; suffering from pinkeye or conjunctivitis)

sunburned; sunburnt (suffering from overexposure to direct sunlight)

varicose (abnormally swollen or knotty)

windburned; windburnt (suffering from windburn)

dehydrated (suffering from excessive loss of water from the body)

angry (severely inflamed and painful)

arthritic; creaky; rheumatic; rheumatoid; rheumy (of or pertaining to arthritis)

asthmatic; wheezing; wheezy (relating to breathing with a whistling sound)

bad; unfit; unsound (physically unsound or diseased)

blebby; blistery (covered with small blisters)

intumescent; puffy; tumescent; tumid; turgid (abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas)

bloodshot ((of an eye) reddened as a result of locally congested blood vessels; inflamed)

cankerous; ulcerated; ulcerous (having an ulcer or canker)

carbuncled; carbuncular (afflicted with or resembling a carbuncle)

carious ((of teeth) affected with cavities or decay)

caseous (of damaged or necrotic tissue; cheeselike)

chilblained (having chilblains)

colicky; flatulent; gassy (suffering from excessive gas in the alimentary canal)

cytomegalic (of or relating to or characterized by greatly enlarged cells)

Also:

unwholesome (detrimental to physical or moral well-being)

ill; sick (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)

frail (physically weak)

unfit (not in good physical or mental condition; out of condition)

Attribute:

health; wellness (a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease)

Antonym:

healthy (having or indicating good health in body or mind; free from infirmity or disease)

Derivation:

unhealthiness (a state in which you are unable to function normally and without pain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Detrimental to health

Synonyms:

insalubrious; unhealthful; unhealthy

Similar:

unwholesome (detrimental to physical or moral well-being)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not conducive to good health

Context example:

an unhealthy climate

Similar:

unhealthful (detrimental to good health)

 Context examples 

Having an abnormally high, unhealthy amount of body fat.

(Obese, NCI Dictionary)

The risk of certain heart diseases may be increased by smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and obesity.

(Heart disease, NCI Dictionary)

That is often caused by an unhealthy diet or having a family history of stroke or heart disease.

(Scientists Say Eating Cheese Can Help Weight Loss, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

South End is an unhealthy place.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

A condition marked by an abnormally high, unhealthy amount of body fat.

(Obesity, NCI Dictionary)

When the neurons become unhealthy or die, communication between your nervous system and muscles breaks down.

(Neuromuscular Disorders, NIH)

My love for my dear child was a diseased love, but my mind was all unhealthy then.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was plainly a damp, feverish, unhealthy spot.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Scotland Yard feels lonely without me, and it causes an unhealthy excitement among the criminal classes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When the retina is injured, however, microglia have an additional role: They migrate quickly to the injury site to remove unhealthy or dying cells.

(Immune cells in the retina can spontaneously regenerate, National Institutes of Health)