uncleanly
US/ʌnˈklɛnli/
uncleanly adjective: dirty, unhygienic, not clean.
Adjective
uncleanly (comparative more uncleanly, superlative most uncleanly)
- Dirty, unhygienic, not clean.
- Prosodemic typhoid from its nature may be disseminated in innumerable ways, but is more frequently found in slum districts, where the habits of the people are uncleanly, or in districts where there is no adequate sewerage.1907, Annual Report, Ohio. State Board of Health
- Not pure in a moral or religious sense.
Adverb
US/ʌnˈkliːnli/
uncleanly (comparative more uncleanly, superlative most uncleanly)
Synonyms of uncleanly
Forms of uncleanly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more uncleanly |
| superlative | most uncleanly |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more uncleanly |
| superlative | most uncleanly |
Origin of uncleanly
From Middle English unclenlī, onclenlich, from Old English unclǣnlīc, equivalent to un- + cleanly.
From Middle English unclenly, onclenly, unclenely; compare Old English unclǣnlīce; equivalent to unclean + -ly.
Words formed from uncleanly
Questions about uncleanly
- What does uncleanly mean?
- Uncleanly means dirty, unhygienic, not clean.
- What part of speech is uncleanly?
- Uncleanly can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce uncleanly?
- Uncleanly is pronounced /ʌnˈklɛnli/ (US).
Words near uncleanly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: uncleanly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-uncleanly.wav.
Cite this entry: “uncleanly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uncleanly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.