unfair
part of speech
adjective (unfair, more unfair, most unfair)
meaning for a pupil
Unfair means not fair: not treating people equally or in a right and honest way, or not following the rules. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, school and games, it is unfair when someone cheats, takes more than their share, or is treated badly because of who they are. «That's unfair!» is a common complaint; good friends try to share fairly and take turns. In maths, sharing unfairly means groups are not equal; fair dice give each number the same chance, an unfair (loaded) die does not. In stories, characters often fight against unfair rules or treatment.
examples
- It's unfair that he got more cake than me. tree →
- Cheating is unfair to the other players. tree →
- The rule seemed unfair to the younger children. tree →
- It's unfair to blame her for something she didn't do. tree →
- A loaded die is unfair because some numbers come up more. tree →
- The referee made an unfair decision. tree →
- Leaving him out of the game was unfair. tree →
- "Your conduct," said they, "is very strange and, we think, very unfair. tree →
note
Prefix «un-» + «fair». Noun «unfairness», adverb «unfairly». Say «unfair to someone» or «unfair on someone» (British). In maths, «unfair shares» are not equal. Homophone of «fair»: «fare» (the price of a ticket).
In the corpora
- Many online photos are filtered or edited; comparing your real face to an edited picture is unfair on yourself.
- Calling pigeons rats with wings is unfair: they have lived alongside people for thousands of years, and people bred them on purpose.
- "xiǎoqìguǐ" means meanie, someone stingy who won't share; it is unfair if their family has little money.
- Blaming others for your mistake is unfair, and people stop trusting you.
- Online hacks are different: they are unfair to other players, break the rules and often hide viruses.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «unfair» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.