Undesirable

/ˌʌndɪˈzaɪɹəbəl/ · adjective

Meaning

Not desirable, objectionable or not likely to please..

Definitions by Sense

1. Not desirable, objectionable or not likely to please.
2. (often in the plural) An undesirable person.

Example Sentences

There would be no need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings, which would clearly be most undesirable.

Chronic venous disease includes cosmetically undesirable telangiectasias, varicose veins, venous ulceration, and claudication.

[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.

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.

The Matchmaking Festival provided social events for these lonely-hearted pilgrims, and allowed local personages to keep undesirables away from their daughters.

The Camden Bench is not an anomaly: more and more, our cities are being designed to keep those deemed as ‘undesirables’ out. By its very nature this is ‘hostile architecture’—urban design with a focus on exclusion, design that inhibits community and tells us who is welcome and who is not.

Synonyms for undesirable

Antonyms for undesirable

Related Words

Word Forms

• more undesirable
• most undesirable
• undesirables

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions