unfair
adjective
Simple meaning
Not treating people equally or reasonably.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnfehrSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈfɛɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception
Not just.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Unfair describes treatment that does not give people equal or reasonable consideration.
- un-
- not, or without
- fair
- reasonable and equal
Prefix function , Not — expresses absence of the quality
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception
Used this way, unfair is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use unfair
- “Used unfair methods.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Partiality that is not fair or equitable.
In an unfair manner.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.