unhappy
adjective · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Sad, or not pleased with a situation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnhapeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈhæpi
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 happy; sad.
Not satisfied; unsatisfied.
noun
A person who is not happy.
verb
To make or become unhappy; to sadden.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Un- means “not”, so unhappy means not happy — sad, or dissatisfied with something.
- un-
- not, or without
- happy
- feeling pleased or content
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.
Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.
More ways to use unhappy
- “Unhappy over her departure.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: person who is not happy
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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.