unpleasantun‧pleas‧ant /ʌnˈplezənt/ ●●○ adjective 
an unpleasant experience an extremely unpleasant smell an unpleasant surprise2not kind or friendly OPP nice: He said some very unpleasant things. a thoroughly unpleasant man—unpleasantly adverb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- an unpleasant odor
- Did she really say that? What an unpleasant person!
- Gabby had never seen two girls be so unpleasant to their mother.
- I had an unpleasant feeling that someone was following me.
- Phil and Jane argued the whole time, so it was a pretty unpleasant evening.
- Some animals give off an unpleasant odor that deters attackers.
- That man in the grocery store is always so unpleasant.
- Then Nel lost her temper and there was an extremely unpleasant scene in Kenwood's office.
- Undercooked potatoes taste unpleasant and can be harmful.
- You shouldn't have been so unpleasant to her - she was only trying to help.
- No crippling Whitewater developments or unpleasant October surprises appeared.
- Obviously the girls were liable to incur unpleasant finger or hand injuries from badly aimed blows.
- Older birds are often very tough and have an unpleasant aroma; they should be avoided whenever possible.
- The engineers were located at both the home office and the construction site, with an unpleasant journey between the two places.
- What falling ill means to a cat, or any other animal, is that something unpleasant is threatening it.
Longman Language Activatoran unpleasant taste or smell
very bad - use this especially to talk about things that taste, smell, or look really bad: · It was the most disgusting meal I've ever eaten.· He smiled showing his teeth, which were a revolting yellow colour.· What a horrible smell!· Dick had cooked a special stew, which looked and smelled revolting.
tasting or smelling horrible: · Undercooked potatoes taste unpleasant and can be harmful.· Some animals give off an unpleasant odor that deters attackers.
a foul smell or taste is extremely bad, and is caused especially by waste or things decaying: · There was a foul smell coming up from the river.
informal very unpleasant - use this to talk about food, smells, or behaviour that you dislike very much: · Ooh, gross! I hate spinach!· Brad threw up on the floor at the party. It was really gross.
British /not very good/not too good spoken a taste or smell that is not very nice or not very good is slightly unpleasant: · This cheese isn't very good. How long have we had it?· The first time I smoked a cigarette it didn't taste very nice.· I wouldn't cook that if I were you. It doesn't smell too good.
tasting or smelling very strong and unpleasant: · I'm not very keen on this wine. It has a nasty aftertaste.· Police were alerted when neighbors complained of a nasty smell coming from the basement.· Cheap perfume often smells nasty after a couple of hours.
a meal or food that is unappetizing has an unpleasant appearance or smell and does not make you want to eat it: · The soup was cold and unappetizing, but it was all there was.· The main course was an unappetizing leg of chicken with boiled potatoes.
an unpleasant experience a horrible experience or situation is one that makes you feel very worried and upset: · It was really horrible coming home and finding all our things had been stolen.· There was a horrible moment when she thought she had left all her files on the train.
horrible - use this especially about events where there is violence, injury, or death: · There was a nasty accident on the freeway and seven people were killed.· a particularly nasty murder case· The news of his death came as a very nasty shock.
making you feel slightly worried, uncomfortable, or embarrassed: · I had an unpleasant feeling that someone was following me.· Phil and Jane argued the whole time, so it was a pretty unpleasant evening.· Then Nel lost her temper and there was an extremely unpleasant scene in Kenwood's office.
especially spoken unpleasant: · It's not very nice being stuck in an elevator for an hour.· Divorce is not a very nice business.
a very unpleasant or frightening experience: · We were stuck in a traffic jam for about four hours - it was a nightmare.· The couple's honeymoon turned into a nightmare when Martin suddenly became very ill.nightmare day/journey etc : · Thousands of commuters faced a nightmare journey to work because of the strikes.nightmare scenario (=the worst possible situation): · An oil spill on this part of the coast is the conservationists' nightmare scenario.
unpleasant person/behaviour especially British behaving in a very rude, unkind, or annoying way: · Her husband was a horrible man - lazy, and always drunk.· I really don't like her at all - she's horrible!be horrible to somebody: · I think I'll go out if you're just going to be horrible to me.
rude or unfriendly in the way you talk to people or answer their questions: · That man in the grocery store is always so unpleasant.· Did she really say that? What an unpleasant person!be unpleasant to somebody: · You shouldn't have been so unpleasant to her - she was only trying to help.
someone who is nasty has a very unpleasant character and is often unkind to people: · I'd avoid him. if I were you. He can be quite nasty.· My first boss was a really nasty person, who seemed to enjoy making life difficult for everyone.be nasty to/towards somebody: · Some of the older boys were being very nasty to him.
American rude and unkind in the way you treat people: · We soon found out that our new teacher could be real mean.be mean to somebody: · Sharon and the others were really mean to me at school today.
especially spoken unkind or unfriendly - use this especially about things people say to each other: · They just told us to shut up, which wasn't very nice.not very nice of somebody: · It wasn't very nice of him to have a party without inviting me.
rude and offensive, especially deliberately Objectionable is more formal than obnoxious: · I'd hate to be her secretary -- she's so obnoxious.· You're behaving like a spoilt obnoxious child.· I'd never have employed him if I'd realized what an objectionable person he was.· What was most objectionable about her was her arrogance.
informal someone who you dislike because they are unpleasant and behave in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable: · Get out of here you little creep! You make me sick!· He didn't say that, did he? What a creep!
informal someone who is very unpleasant and is likely to behave in a cruel or violent way: · Casey and Wyatt went round in a gang with Don, who was a nasty piece of work.· Why would anyone want to kill Howard, do you think?" "It's obvious. He was a nasty piece of work."
rude/not polite someone who is rude upsets or offends people by not following the rules of good social behaviour and not considering other people's feelings: · What a rude man! He just ignored me when I said "Good morning".· I don't mean to be rude, but could you tell your children to keep quiet?· He's one of the rudest people I've ever met.rude to: · I know you're upset, but there's no need to be rude to your mother.rude about: · Are you being rude about my cooking?it is rude to do something: · It's rude to interrupt people when they are speaking.it is rude of somebody to do something: · I thought it was very rude of her not to answer my letter.
not following the rules of accepted social behaviour, especially when someone does this without realizing it - use this especially about the things that people do or say, rather than about people themselves: · In Senegal it is considered impolite if you do not share your food.· You weren't very polite to her.it is impolite/not polite to do something: · I was tired, but I thought it might not be polite to leave so early.· It is impolite and inconsiderate for people to drop in uninvited.
someone who is tactless upsets or embarrasses someone else, without intending to, by mentioning something that it would be better not to talk about: · I wanted to know about her divorce, but I thought it would be tactless to ask.· She was often tactless and insensitive.· tactless remarks
seeming rude or unkind because you say what you think very directly, so that people are annoyed or offended: · Harris was abrasive and arrogant.· Anson's abrasive personality has landed her in trouble many times in the past.
someone who has bad manners does not behave politely in social situations, for example by not saying "please" and "thank you": · Marilyn apologized for her husband's bad manners.it is bad manners to do something: · It is bad manners to talk with your mouth full.
behaving in a rude and unpleasant way, especially because of never having been taught how to be polite: · Her children are incredibly bad-mannered -- she should be more strict with them.· Ill-mannered movie-goers talked and took cell phone calls during the picture. · As soon as some English people go abroad, they seem to change into bad-mannered, insensitive oafs.
formal not behaving in a polite way - use this especially about people's remarks or behaviour: · It would have seemed discourteous to refuse his offer.discourteous to: · He claimed that the officer had been discourteous to him.
to deliberately behave in a rude and unfriendly way towards someone: · He can be very unpleasant when he's in a bad mood.· It isn't necessary to be that unpleasant, Mike.be unpleasant to: · She was shocked at how unpleasant the children were to their mother.
rude, loud, and unpleasant - use this especially about people's behaviour: · The behaviour of some politicians in debates is simply loutish and intimidating.· They considered my boyfriend to be loutish and a bit stupid.· loutish behaviour
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES obnoxious odours from a factory
· He had the unpleasant habit of eating with his mouth open.
obnoxious odours from a factory· I felt a rather unpleasant sensation in my chest.
· The smell in the shed was awful.
· We don’t want any unpleasant surprises.
· Some tablets have a nasty taste.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· If Madreidetic's anything like as unpleasant as their language, why should I let them get away with piracy?· He was also cynical enough to believe that any other woman might be as unpleasant to live with.· Most predators probably have to sample and kill at least one wasp or bee before they learn to identify it as unpleasant.
· Body odour Like halitosis, body odour can be extremely unpleasant and embarrassing.· Strangely, as lovingly as cilantro is embraced by many cooks, its unusual smell and flavor are extremely unpleasant to some.· What we do know is that they can have extremely unpleasant effects.
· In so far as material conditions were more unpleasant, so human beings were more unpleasant.· Without it, a painful 1991 for the contracting group would have been even more unpleasant.· She squelched along in the muddy ruts left by the cattle, avoiding other more unpleasant tokens of their passage.· Once again, it was the insidious, unseen nature of the threat which made it even more unpleasant.
· Who was this monstrous man who had just inflicted on her one of the most unpleasant encounters in her entire life?· To this day beards summon up the most unpleasant associations.· He said she had received threatening phone calls and that the whole experience had been most unpleasant.· Poison ivy is a most unpleasant thing to have in your rectum. 3.· This made working conditions most unpleasant, the nets becoming wet and heavy to handle.· He had a distracted, drowned look, which was most unpleasant.· Consequently the streets of these poorer areas are strewn with rubbish and in hot weather there is frequently a most unpleasant smell.
· At least the corpse wasn't particularly unpleasant.· There was one particularly unpleasant scene, involving John Wilkinson, one of his own backbenchers.· I am not suggesting, he wrote, that this period was particularly unpleasant.· I've also included the particularly unpleasant articles - sheer malevolence - written by Jehova's Witnesses.
· From the only letter which survives written by William Springett, one can only conclude that he was a rather unpleasant man.· A rather unpleasant and damp flog came in its place.· I felt that there was something, well, really rather unpleasant about him.· The silver pince-nez gave him the air of a rather unpleasant schoolmaster.· It had something of the quality of a full-time job - a rather unpleasant one.
· I nearly got up ad went away out of pity, I found this so unpleasant in a slip of a child.· And the heat inside the mill would not be so unpleasant as the crippling cold endured by field-workers in winter.· I want to be so unpleasant that he gets no pleasure from having me.
· He was amazingly patient, considering how very unpleasant and uncomfortable it must have been.· Cancellation of the project would come as a very unpleasant and unexpected outcome.· The stench filled the street, making shopping very unpleasant, and Environmental Health Officers received numerous complaints.· How very unpleasant it can be, she reflected, to see oneself as others see one.· It wasn't a suggestion but a statement of fact, and privately Robbie decided he must know some very unpleasant women.· Other children find eating very unpleasant due to their organic disorder.· Slurry stored for any length of time undergoes anaerobic fermentation - and becomes very unpleasant when disturbed.
NOUN· Avoidance Learning Avoidance learning occurs when individuals learn to avoid or escape from unpleasant consequences.· Eventually, though, the unpleasant consequences of this decision began to appear.
· With a warm fire, and a hot meal, I began to recover from my unpleasant experiences.· They have just suffered the unpleasant experience of having a three day annual convention of Young Farmers inflicted upon them.· The octopus, he discovered, could learn to distinguish such shapes and patterns and avoid those coupled with the unpleasant experience.· It was an unusual and unpleasant experience for him to feel on the defensive with his own children.· There is evidence that both animals and humans prefer predictable rather than unpredictable reactions even when predictability is obtained from a very unpleasant experience.
· There was an unpleasant odour blowing along our road all next day.· Local authorities in industrial Teesside received many complaints about an unpleasant odour resembling decaying fish.
· But it's an expensive drug and it has unpleasant side effects.· Banished from the official organizational history, the memory of these unpleasant side effects lingers in the form of unhealthy core beliefs.· Other countries avoided the unpleasant side effects of reprocessing by storing the used fuel in dry stores.· Commercial considerations presumably preclude any cruel or unpleasant side to his character.
· This is generally caused by a decomposing body or bodies polluting the water and is usually accompanied by an unpleasant smell.· Aside from the unpleasant smell, not much had changed.· He was conscious of feeling cold in the van and of the unpleasant smell of petrol.· In spite of the name, the flower does not have an unpleasant smell.· He became suddenly aware of a strange, unpleasant smell.· An unpleasant smell seemed to waft from the airline bag Mary always carried to school.· Consequently the streets of these poorer areas are strewn with rubbish and in hot weather there is frequently a most unpleasant smell.· The source of irritation may be flies, an unpleasant smell, ticklish grooming or an unskilled rider.
· All this has come as an unpleasant surprise to Hong Kong's officials.· Those who shorted McAfee, however, had an unpleasant surprise.· Now she knew she was in for an unpleasant surprise.· Party officials' in the towns the unpleasant surprise of losing jobs to which they had become all too comfortably accustomed.· This will reduce the possibility of unpleasant surprises.· Conversation with her was a series of small unpleasant surprises.· We may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
· The role of disciplinarian in the family is an unpleasant task.· Those qualities enabled Coffman to handle several unpleasant tasks.· Is there an unpleasant task waiting to be done?
· Its shape did unpleasant things to the eye.· They say unpleasant things about young people today, but I find them so helpful.· They swarmed up Parkside and boarded buses bound for Putney, shouting unpleasant things at the driver-conductor.· Which all meant several unpleasant things.· Says some more unpleasant things about his daughter.
· Or when they refuse to face unpleasant truths, like good and evil.· On close inspection, the unpleasant truths an organization is afraid to tell often turn out to be not all that abhorrent.
WORD FAMILYadjectivepleasant ≠ unpleasantpleased ≠ displeasedpleasing ≠ displeasingpleasurableadverbpleasantly ≠ unpleasantlypleasinglypleasurablynounpleasantrypleasure ≠ displeasureverbplease ≠ displease
1not pleasant or enjoyable: an unpleasant experience an extremely unpleasant smell an unpleasant surprise2not kind or friendly OPP nice: He said some very unpleasant things. a thoroughly unpleasant man—unpleasantly adverb- lambada
- lambast
- Lamb, Charles
- Lambeth Conference
- Lambeth Palace
- Lambeth Walk, The
- workfare
- workflow
- workforce
- workhorse
- workhouse
- working
- working capital
- working class
- working-class
- working families tax credit
- working girl
- working group
- working papers
- working party
- Working Tax Credit
- work-life balance
- workload
- workman
- workmanlike