Word.ws English Dictionary

unsavory

/ʌnˈseɪv.əɹ.i/

unsavory adjective: not savory; without flavor.

Adjective

unsavory (comparative more unsavory, superlative most unsavory)

  1. (US) Not savory; without flavor.
  2. (US) Of bad taste; distasteful.
    • The little Pieces of Beef vvere like Plums in our Hodg-podg. Indeed 'tvvas not fit to be eaten any other vvay; for tho' it did not ſtink, yet it vvas very unſavory and black, vvithout the leaſt ſign of Fat in it: […]1699, William Dampier, chapter I, in Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, part II (Mr. Dampier’s Voyages to the Bay of Campeachy), page 38
  3. (US) Making an activity undesirable.
  4. (US) Disreputable, not respectable, of questionable moral character.
    • His unsavory reputation as a mobster came back to haunt him when he ran for mayor of New York.
    • [G]ood ſalt cannot relyſh in ſo vnſauory a mouth, […]1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], “Euphues to Him that was His Philautus”, in Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 81, verso

unsavory meaning in Tamil and Kannada

unsavory in Tamil

unsavory, tasteless matter
பருப்பொருள் parupporuḷ

unsavory in Kannada

ಸವಿಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಪೆಡಸಾದ

Examples of unsavory in a sentence

  • “Mudds is a notorious dive for all sorts of unsavory rogues.
  • Our friendship with Jesus Christ is the redeeming quality that takes our personality from unsavory to save-worthy.
  • By judicious leaking, he also managed to make la Kirkpatrick and her associates look rather unsavory.

All 10 example sentences with unsavory

Forms of unsavory

comparativemore unsavory
superlativemost unsavory
alternative UKunsavoury

Origin of unsavory

From un- + savory.

Words formed from unsavory

Questions about unsavory

What does unsavory mean?
Unsavory means not savory; without flavor.
What is unsavory in Tamil?
Unsavory in Tamil is பருப்பொருள் (parupporuḷ). See Unsavory meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is unsavory?
Unsavory is an adjective.
How do you pronounce unsavory?
Unsavory is pronounced /ʌnˈseɪv.əɹ.i/.

Words near unsavory in the dictionary

  1. unsaves
  2. unsaving
  3. unsavored
  4. unsavorily
  5. unsavoriness
  6. unsavory
  7. unsavoured
  8. unsavourily
  9. unsavouriness
  10. unsavoury
  11. unsavvy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unsavory (page history and authors); பருப்பொருள் (Tamil) (page history and authors); unsavory (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: en-us-unsavory.ogg.

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