| Library / English Dictionary |
UNDESIRABLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
One whose presence is undesirable
Example:
rounding up vagrants and drunks and other undesirables
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("undesirable" is a kind of...):
persona non grata; unwelcome person (a person who for some reason is not wanted or welcome)
Derivation:
undesirable (not wanted)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not wanted
Example:
removed the unwanted vegetation
Synonyms:
undesirable; unwanted
Classified under:
Similar:
unenviable (so undesirable as to be incapable of arousing envy)
Also:
hateful (evoking or deserving hatred)
unwanted (not wanted; not needed)
Antonym:
desirable (worth having or seeking or achieving)
Derivation:
undesirability (the quality possessed by something that should be avoided)
undesirable (one whose presence is undesirable)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not worthy of being chosen (especially as a spouse)
Synonyms:
undesirable; unsuitable
Classified under:
Similar:
ineligible (not eligible)
Derivation:
undesirability (the quality possessed by something that should be avoided)
Context examples:
A device that malfunctions as the result of exposure to undesirable levels of humidity
(Device Humidity Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)
Associated with this process is also a filtering that removes undesirable artifacts.
(Filtered Backprojection, NCI Thesaurus)
The device causes cellular or tissue responses that elicit an undesirable local or systemic effect in the recipient or beneficiary of that therapy (see ISO 10993).
(Device Biocompatibility Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)
But Buck did not read the newspapers, and he did not know that Manuel, one of the gardener’s helpers, was an undesirable acquaintance.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
The other, mediated by the beta-arrestin protein, leads to the undesirable side effects of opioids, such as constipation and slowed breathing.
(Designing more effective opioids, NIH)
The coronary sinus / left ventricular lead was not implanted because the lead position resulted in undesirable stimulation of the diaphragm.
(Cardiac Lead Position Results in Undesirable Stimulation of Diaphragm, NCI Thesaurus/ACC)
SEND terminology related to the degree of an occurrence of something undesirable.
(CDISC SEND Severity Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
Issue associated with an undesirable opaqueness or cloudiness.
(Opacification of Medical Device Material, Food and Drug Administration)
The oral contraceptive prevents pregnancy by preventing ovulation and by inducing endometrial and cervical changes undesirable for fertilization and implantation.
(Oral Contraceptive Preparation, NCI Thesaurus)
Informed by genetic analysis, they replaced undesirable alleles in modern tomato varieties with desirable alleles.
(Scientists develop genetic path to tastier tomatoes, NSF)
