Word.ws English Dictionary

unpleasing

UK/ʌnˈpliːzɪŋ/

unpleasing adjective: not pleasing; unpleasant.

Adjective

unpleasing (comparative more unpleasing, superlative most unpleasing)

  1. Not pleasing; unpleasant.
    • It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away!
      It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
      Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • ‘[…] Be assured, my dear, that these were the harshest words, and to me the most unpleasing that ever escaped your lips!’1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], chapter 13, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC

Examples of unpleasing in a sentence

  • This looked peculiar at first, but not unpleasing when one gets used to it.1950 December, H. C. Casserley, “Locomotive Cavalcade, 1920-1950—6”, in Railway Magazine, page 843:
  • Zander took out a silk handkerchief and vented some unpleasing odour from his mouth.2000, J. G. Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 86:

Forms of unpleasing

comparativemore unpleasing
superlativemost unpleasing

Origin of unpleasing

From Middle English un-plesyng, equivalent to un- + pleasing.

Words formed from unpleasing

Questions about unpleasing

What does unpleasing mean?
Unpleasing means not pleasing; unpleasant.
How do you use unpleasing in a sentence?
This looked peculiar at first, but not unpleasing when one gets used to it.
What part of speech is unpleasing?
Unpleasing is an adjective.
How do you pronounce unpleasing?
Unpleasing is pronounced /ʌnˈpliːzɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near unpleasing in the dictionary

  1. unpleasantnesses
  2. unpleasantries
  3. unpleasantry
  4. unpleaseable
  5. unpleased
  6. unpleasing
  7. unpleasingly
  8. unpleasingness
  9. unpleasurable
  10. unpleasurableness
  11. unpleasurably

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unpleasing (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “unpleasing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unpleasing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.