unwanted

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ wanted.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈwɒntɪd/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Homophone: unwonted

Adjective

unwanted (comparative more unwanted, superlative most unwanted)

1. Not wanted; unwelcome.

   I rebuffed his unwanted advances.

   • 2020 December 2, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, “I enjoy really big challenges...”, in Rail, page 52:

     Once finances are stabilised, getting Crossrail finished is Byford's most obvious task. Late and over budget, it is causing unwanted headlines and friction between the London Mayor and the Department for Transport that both sides would rather live without.

Derived terms

• unwantedness

Collocations

with nouns

• unwanted effect
• unwanted consequence
• unwanted pregnancy
• unwanted child
• unwanted baby
• unwanted person
• unwanted guest
• unwanted visitor
• unwanted gift
• unwanted thought
• unwanted element
• unwanted sound
• unwanted sex
• unwanted feature

Translations

not wanted

• Bulgarian: нежелан (bg) (neželan)
• Czech: nechtěný
• Dutch: ongewild (nl)
• Finnish: ei-toivottu
• German: unerwünscht (de), ungewollt (de)
• Greek: ανεπιθύμητος (el) (anepithýmitos)

  Ancient: ἀθέλητος (athélētos)

• Italian: indesiderato (it)
• Manx: gyn yeearree
• Polish: niechciany (pl) m
• Romanian: nedorit (ro), nevoit
• Russian: нежела́емый (neželájemyj), нежела́нный (ru) (neželánnyj)
• Swedish: oönskad (sv)
• Telugu: అకాంక్షితము (akāṅkṣitamu)
• Turkish: istenmeyen (tr)

Noun

unwanted (plural unwanteds)

1. One who or that is not wanted; an undesirable.
   • 1963, The Nyasaland Journal, volumes 16-17, page 12:

     What slaves they had bought to carry the goods of the interior back to the coast were the unwanteds of the villages — the persons convicted of crime who would normally have been killed or banished from their communities […]

   • 1970, Triumph, volumes 5-6, page 7:

     There were no thoughts of hydrogen bombs or CBW or contraceptives or removing unwanteds. It was the old America, the old order restored, and the President saw that it was Good.