undesirable
part of speech
adjective (undesirable); noun (an undesirable, undesirables — old, rude)
meaning for a pupil
1) Not wanted because it is bad, harmful or unpleasant: undesirable side effects. tree →
2) (formal) Not suitable or not good to have or do. tree →
3) (noun, old-fashioned, unkind) A person thought to be unwanted in a place. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and health: undesirable side effects of a medicine, undesirable weeds. In formal writing and exams: «It is undesirable to …» means «It is not a good idea to …». Phrases: «undesirable effects», «highly undesirable».
examples
- Weeds are undesirable plants in a vegetable patch. tree →
- The medicine can have undesirable side effects like sleepiness. tree →
- Leaving food out overnight is undesirable because germs grow. tree →
- It is undesirable for pupils to run in the corridors. tree →
- Noise from the road was an undesirable part of living there. tree →
- The club tried to keep out undesirable visitors. tree →
- So unhappy was she that she spent all her time wondering how she should get rid of her undesirable husband. tree →
note
Takes «an». Formal and stronger than «not wanted». Calling people «undesirables» is rude and unkind. Opposite: desirable.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «undesirable» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.