unsound
part of speech
adjective (unsound)
meaning for a pupil
1) Unsound means not safe or strong; in bad condition, like an unsound building or bridge. tree →
2) Unsound reasoning, ideas or advice are not based on good sense or facts; wrong or unreliable. tree →
3) (law, old-fashioned) «Of unsound mind» means a person who is mentally ill and cannot make responsible decisions. tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety: an unsound wall, tree or ice can collapse. In maths and logic: an unsound argument gives a wrong conclusion. In law: «of unsound mind». It tells the reader something cannot be trusted.
examples
- The old bridge was unsound, so it was closed. tree →
- Don't climb that tree – the branch is unsound. tree →
- His argument was unsound because the facts were wrong. tree →
- The ice looked thick but was unsound. tree →
- The engineer said the walls were structurally unsound. tree →
- That plan is financially unsound – it costs more than we have. tree →
note
Opposite: «sound» (safe, sensible). «Sound» here does not mean noise. «Of unsound mind» is an old legal phrase; today people say a person is unwell.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «unsound» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.