Meaning & use
unhappy
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Feeling sad, or showing through your face or behavior that you are not content.
Grammar: Can come before a noun (an unhappy child) or after a linking verb (she looks unhappy); it has -er and -est forms.
Patterns
- feel unhappy
- look unhappy
- an unhappy childhood
He was unhappy after moving to a city where he knew nobody.
The unhappy child sat alone at the edge of the playground.
She gave an unhappy smile and said goodbye.
adjectiveafter a verb
Not satisfied or pleased about something that you think is wrong or poor.
Grammar: Usually followed by with, about or at: unhappy with the service, unhappy about the delay.
Patterns
- unhappy with something
- unhappy about something
- unhappy that something happened
Customers were unhappy with the long waiting times.
The manager was unhappy about the way the news was shared.
I'm unhappy that nobody asked my opinion.
adjectivebefore a nounformal
Unlucky or unfortunate, or likely to bring sadness.
Grammar: In this sense it comes before a noun and sounds somewhat formal or literary: an unhappy coincidence.
Patterns
- an unhappy accident
- an unhappy ending
An unhappy coincidence meant the two rivals were seated together.
The story has an unhappy ending, and many readers cried.
It was an unhappy choice of words for a wedding speech.
Word forms
| comparative | unhappier |
|---|---|
| superlative | unhappiest |
Common combinations
- deeply unhappy
- She was deeply unhappy in her first job.
- unhappy with
- Fans were unhappy with the referee's decision.
- look unhappy
- You look unhappy; is something wrong?
- unhappy childhood
- The author wrote about her unhappy childhood in a small village.
- unhappy marriage
- They stayed together for years in an unhappy marriage.
- feel unhappy about
- I feel unhappy about leaving the dog alone all day.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sad
- Sad names the feeling itself and can be brief, while unhappy often suggests a longer state or general dissatisfaction with life.
- miserable
- Miserable is much stronger, describing deep and obvious suffering.
- dissatisfied
- Dissatisfied is narrower and formal, meaning not pleased with a specific result or service rather than feeling sad.
- downcast
- Downcast is more literary and stresses a low mood shown in the face or posture.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: unhappy or sad?
unhappy vs sad
Sad is the usual word for a feeling of sorrow after a particular event, but you would not normally say sad with a service; use unhappy with for complaints.
Practice
Several residents were ______ the new parking rules, so they signed a complaint.
Choose one answer.
Unhappy with is the normal pattern for being dissatisfied about something. The other prepositions do not collocate with unhappy in this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unhappy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.