unfavourable
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Tending to hinder or oppose.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnfayveruhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈfeɪvɚəbəl
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
of winds or weather
Tending to hinder or oppose
Serving to hinder or oppose; adverse, disadvantageous, inconducive, unsuitable.
Of wind or weather: causing delay or obstacles; not conducive to travel or work; inclement.
Not encouraging or approving or pleasing
Of a belief, state of mind, etc.: not favourable; disapproving.
Not auspicious; ill-boding.
noun
plural only
Unfavourability ratings, percentage of people in opposition
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (of winds or weather) tending to hinder or oppose
Used this way, unfavourable is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Nearby words
- admonitory , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: tending to hinder or oppose
Antonyms
Sense: unfavourability ratings or percentage of people in opposition
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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.