1
as in poisonous
bad for the well-being of the body
health inspectors shut down several food stands that were using tainted and unwholesome meat
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in corrupt
having or showing lowered moral character or standards
despite having been raised in such unwholesome environments as a brothel and a traveling circus, singer Edith Piaf rose to international stardom
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Recent Examples of unwholesome
But unlike Materialists, those movies—pictures like Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth or Preston Sturges’ The Palm Beach Story—emerged in a time when Hollywood censors were keeping a close eye on movies’ ideology, determined to protect audiences from unwholesome influences.
—
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 13 June 2025
By mid-afternoon the weather turned downright unwholesome.
—Arthur Grahame, Outdoor Life, 4 June 2025
Like its unwholesome protagonist, the film — and the roving camera of Vladislav Opelyants, shooting in gorgeously high-contrast black-and-white — is forever on the move, creating an immersive aesthetic experience that amounts to a big pile of nothing.
—Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 20 May 2025
As for the place, its veneer of comfortable tourism doesn’t hide the air of something unwholesome, especially when female guests start randomly throwing up.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2024
In celebration of her return, everyone from comedian Melissa McCarthy, who’s playing the conniving nemesis of King Triton, to film historians, are taking the opportunity to pay tribute to the legendary drag queen who inspired Ursula’s unwholesome ways: Divine.
—Elaina Patton, NBC News, 26 May 2023
There was something indefinably unwholesome about him.
—Ian McEwan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
This syndrome originally surfaced in 1926, when residents of Haverhill, Massachusetts drank unwholesome milk and suffered soaring temps, aching joints, and skin lesions ranging from flat, red spots to papules, pustules, and blisters—the same telltale features earlier linked to bites.
—Claire Panosian Dunavan, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unwholesome
Adjective
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Anyone who may have eaten a poisonous mushroom is urged to seek medical help immediately.—
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Traces of plant toxins The chemical residues of this poisonous plant were found on 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads.—
Adjective
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Which makes Shelley Joseph today’s poster gal for the corrupt double standards in the Massachusetts legal system.—
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Trump is running the most brazenly corrupt administration in modern history.—
Adjective
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The change comes amid concerns about fireworks causing unhealthful air.—
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Health professionals encourage people to use lean cuts of meat because most of the fat in animal products is unhealthful saturated fat, which can raise the risk of heart disease and cancer.—
Adjective
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Two meetings will be hosted this month for public input on a proposal to restore a degraded estuary in South Laguna at Aliso Creek.—
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Loyola Marymount University professor Demian Willette uses it to better understand how micro-forests take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, contribute to local biodiversity and help restore degraded land.—
Adjective
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They’re combined with a non-toxic, hypoallergenic down alternative filling, creating a plush and luxurious sleeping experience that’s designed for back, side, and stomach sleepers.—
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Many hominids went extinct during this period, and being able to consume alcohol without adverse and/or toxic effects would have conferred a survival advantage.—
Adjective
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This leaves a sicker risk pool behind and drives premiums even higher for those who remain.—
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Humans who have prolonged close contact with sick or dead birds infected with HPAI are the most at risk of becoming infected.—
Adjective
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The single mom's unhealthy path had started years before.—
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Binge eating or an unhealthy relationship with food could develop.—
Adjective
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Then she’s saddled with the noxious task of trying to convince Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to kill herself for the greater good, only to reverse course at the last second and save her?—
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Shrouded in mist and prone to spewing noxious green goop over windows, their true form remains a mystery throughout.—
Cite this Entry
“Unwholesome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unwholesome. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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