UNFIT (unfitted, unfitting)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: unfitted    , unfitting   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unfit mean? 

• UNFIT (adjective)
  The adjective UNFIT has 3 senses:

1. below the required standards for a purpose

2. not in good physical or mental condition; out of condition

3. physically unsound or diseased

  Familiarity information: UNFIT used as an adjective is uncommon.

• UNFIT (verb)
  The verb UNFIT has 1 sense:

1. make unfit or unsuitable

  Familiarity information: UNFIT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNFIT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Below the required standards for a purpose

Context example:

unfit for human consumption

Similar:

subhuman (unfit for human beings)

unsuitable (not meant or adapted for a particular purpose)

Antonym:

fit (meeting adequate standards for a purpose)

Derivation:

unfitness (the quality of not being suitable)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not in good physical or mental condition; out of condition

Context example:

drunk and unfit for service

Similar:

afflicted; impaired (mentally or physically unfit)

maimed; mutilated (having a part of the body crippled or disabled)

dipped; lordotic; swayback; swaybacked (having abnormal sagging of the spine (especially in horses))

spavined ((of horses) afflicted with a swelling of the hock-joint)

flabby; flaccid; soft (out of condition; not strong or robust; incapable of exertion or endurance)

knock-kneed (having the knees abnormally close together and the ankles wide apart)

gammy ((British informal) sore or lame)

disabled; handicapped (having restricted mental or physical functioning as a consequence of injury or illness)

crookback; crookbacked; gibbous; humpbacked; humped; hunchbacked; kyphotic (characteristic of or suffering from kyphosis, an abnormality of the vertebral column)

crippled; game; gimpy; halt; halting; lame (disabled in the feet or legs)

broken-backed ((of a horse) having bones of the back united by a bony growth)

bandy; bandy-legged; bowed; bowleg; bowlegged (have legs that curve outward at the knees)

apractic; apraxic (having uncoordinated muscular movements, symptomatic of a CNS disorder)

Also:

unhealthy (not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind)

unsound (not sound financially)

ill; sick (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)

Antonym:

fit (physically and mentally sound or healthy)

Derivation:

unfitness (lacking the power to perform)

unfitness (poor physical condition; being out of shape or out of condition (as from a life of ease and luxury))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Physically unsound or diseased

Synonyms:

bad; unfit; unsound

Context example:

unsound teeth

Similar:

unhealthy (not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind)

Derivation:

unfitness (poor physical condition; being out of shape or out of condition (as from a life of ease and luxury))

• UNFIT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they unfit    ... he / she / it unfits   
Past simple: unfitted   
Past participle: unfitted   
-ing form: unfitting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make unfit or unsuitable

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

disqualify; indispose; unfit

Context example:

Your income disqualifies you

Hypernyms (to "unfit" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

But you are ill; even now you tremble; you are unfit for agitation of any kind.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It is highly unfit for you to sit, be it only half an hour a day, without a fire.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

My sister will be equally sorry to miss the pleasure of seeing you; but she has been very much plagued lately with nervous head-aches, which make her unfit for company or conversation.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I am sure you always thought me unfit for the office I held.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

When the unexpected does happen, however, and when it is of sufficiently grave import, the unfit perish.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Not all the time, too much confinement makes you nervous, and then you are unfitted for everything.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I always thought they were very unfit to have the charge of her; but I was overruled, as I always am.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to one of a class.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

An honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant to him a great many years, but was now growing old and every day more and more unfit for work.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It may be, too, that I spoke somewhat shortly concerning the bran and the beans, the same being poor provender and unfitted for a man of my inches.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)