UNHEALTHY Synonyms: 165 Similar and Opposite Words

unhealthy

adjective

ˌən-ˈhel-thē

Definition of unhealthy

as in poisonous

bad for the well-being of the body we knew that the junk food at the carnival was unhealthy, but it tasted so good!

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in dangerous

involving potential loss or injury criticism of the military dictatorship has proved to be unhealthy for several of that nation's journalists

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in sick

temporarily suffering from a disorder of the body she's been unhealthy for almost a week now

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of unhealthy However, due to the prescribed burn, air quality in western and central Sonoma County may range from unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy or hazardous, according to the county health officer. — Jose Fabian, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 Not every unhealthy environment can be fixed with resilience, better time management or stronger boundaries. — Nike Ajao, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026 Nike told Vogue Business that Hill, who became CEO in 2024, has cleaned up unhealthy inventory, reset the marketplace, and created more space for a new series of Nike performance products and innovation. — Joe Bobowicz, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026 But that life was disrupted when her father took up a mistress and developed an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, causing Barbara to move several times and board with neighbors before eventually settling into a two-room apartment with her mother. — Genevieve Uzamere, PEOPLE, 29 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for unhealthy

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unhealthy

Adjective

With the throne disengaged from governance, petitions and reports from officials piled up unread, crucial state posts went unfilled, and the imperial bureaucracy splintered amid poisonous factional infighting.

— Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026
With this potential even more poisonous investments in the bloated and indebted Paramount behemoth, there’s even more reason to reject it.

— Abigail Disney, New York Daily News, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of poisonous

Adjective

Meanwhile, the financial clout of the industry has grown considerably, resulting in a new, more dangerous problem.

— Kent Sepkowitz, STAT, 5 Oct. 2026
Attempting to de-escalate the scare, Rospotrebnadzor declared the regional sanitary situation stable after secondary testing showed no traces of dangerous pathogens linked to Shipilova’s research.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of dangerous

Adjective

Along with missing guard Dru Smith (right calf strain) and two-way contract forward Keshad Johnson (right hamstring strain) for the second straight exhibition game, the Heat was also without guard Pelle Larsson (sick) on Thursday.

— Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2026
Two types of influenza — A and B — are responsible for the seasonal flu epidemics that make people sick, according to the California Department of Public Health.

— Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of sick

Adjective

As many have observed, and Republicans are somewhat ineffectually seeking to highlight, the post-Barack Obama Democratic Party has come to consist of little more than a toxic mixture of socialism, antisemitism and wokeness.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 5 Oct. 2026
Several years later, DeLay was the force driving Clinton’s impeachment and was simply too toxic to seek the speaker’s chair.

— Michael Tarm, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of toxic

Adjective

Ensure heat is working so tenants don’t need space heaters, which can be particularly hazardous in buildings with older electrical systems.

— Lillian Bonsignore, New York Daily News, 4 Oct. 2026
The action comes as Livingston locals raised concerns about the film’s impact on local business — and notably the city’s sole food bank — as well as improper notification about hazardous stunts.

— Payton Turkeltaub, Variety, 4 Oct. 2026

Definition of hazardous

Adjective

But then came the nightmare of Game 3, one of the Sox’s worst performances in weeks.

— Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 9 Oct. 2026
Specifically, people with worse fever tended to have more of a protein called flagellin in their systems than those with little to no fever.

— Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of bad

Adjective

Warnings of unhealthful air quality remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the United States due to smoke from Canadian wildfires that has engulfed the Northeast in haze for days.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2026
The soil may contain pathogens, pesticides and other unhealthful things.

— Joan Morris, Mercury News, 9 Feb. 2026

Definition of unhealthful

Adjective

While a model alone might flag a transaction as risky, the decisions may contain high levels of inaccuracy without orchestrating the signals.

— Harsh Verma, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 2026
The acquisition was considered risky because semiconductor manufacturing is highly cyclical and requires substantial capital investment.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of risky

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unhealthiness

unhealthy

unheard-of

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“Unhealthy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unhealthy. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of unhealthy

adjective

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