Meaning & use
undesirable
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Not wanted because something is harmful, unpleasant, risky, or likely to cause problems.
Grammar: Comparable: more undesirable, most undesirable; can be used before nouns or after linking verbs.
Patterns
- undesirable side effects
- highly or socially undesirable
- undesirable outcome
The drug may cause undesirable side effects such as dizziness.
Leaving wet towels on the floor is socially undesirable in a shared flat.
A long delay is an undesirable outcome for both sides.
nouncountabledisapprovingoffensive
A person whom a community or authority considers troublesome, unwelcome, or unwanted.
Grammar: Countable and often plural; this use can sound cold or stigmatizing, so prefer precise wording in neutral contexts.
Patterns
- treat someone as an undesirable
- label people undesirables
The proposal was criticized for treating homeless people as undesirables.
Historians examined laws that labeled certain immigrants as undesirables.
Word forms
| comparative | more undesirable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most undesirable |
Common combinations
- undesirable side effects
- Patients should report undesirable side effects to their doctor.
- undesirable outcome
- A default is an undesirable outcome for the borrower and lender.
- socially undesirable
- Littering is widely seen as socially undesirable.
- highly undesirable
- A total shutdown is highly undesirable during harvest season.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unwanted
- Unwanted is simple and broad; undesirable often adds a judgment that something would cause harm or problems.
- objectionable
- Objectionable emphasizes that people disapprove or object, not merely that they do not want something.
- unwelcome
- Unwelcome often applies to people, news, or attention received badly; undesirable applies more to effects, traits, or results.
Opposites
Word family
- undesirably adverb
- In a way that is not wanted or that causes problems.
- undesirability noun
- The quality of being unwanted or likely to cause harm.
Commonly confused: undesirable or undeserved?
undesirable vs undeserved
Undeserved means not earned or not merited; undesirable means not wanted or likely to cause problems.
Practice
The medicine worked, but it had several ___ effects.
Choose one answer.
Undesirable effects are unwanted harmful effects of a medicine. Undeserved means unfairly earned; unallocated refers to resources; truancy is school absence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “undesirable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.