UNHAPPY (unhappier, unhappiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: unhappier    , unhappiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unhappy mean? 

• UNHAPPY (adjective)
  The adjective UNHAPPY has 4 senses:

1. experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent

2. generalized feeling of distress

3. causing discomfort

4. marked by or producing unhappiness

  Familiarity information: UNHAPPY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNHAPPY (adjective)

Comparative: unhappier   
Superlative: unhappiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent

Context example:

he looks so sad

Similar:

lovesick (languishing because of love)

miserable; suffering; wretched (very unhappy; full of misery)

Also:

cheerless; depressing; uncheerful (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)

discontent; discontented (showing or experiencing dissatisfaction or restless longing)

dejected (affected or marked by low spirits)

distressed; dysphoric; unhappy (generalized feeling of distress)

infelicitous (not appropriate in application; defective)

sad (experiencing or showing sorrow or unhappiness)

sorrowful (experiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss)

joyless (not experiencing or inspiring joy)

Attribute:

happiness (emotions experienced when in a state of well-being)

felicity; happiness (state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy)

Antonym:

happy (enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure)

Derivation:

unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)

unhappiness (state characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Generalized feeling of distress

Synonyms:

distressed; dysphoric; unhappy

Also:

dejected (affected or marked by low spirits)

unhappy (experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent)

Derivation:

unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Causing discomfort

Context example:

the unhappy truth

Similar:

unpleasant (offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Marked by or producing unhappiness

Synonyms:

infelicitous; unhappy

Context example:

unhappy caravans, straggling afoot through swamps and canebrakes

Similar:

unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)

 Context examples 

That they had made my mama, who always loved me dearly, unhappy about me, and that I knew it well, and that Peggotty knew it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Jo had got so far, she was learning to do her duty, and to feel unhappy if she did not, but to do it cheerfully, ah, that was another thing!

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

St. John, I am unhappy because you are still angry with me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I never was more surprized—but it does not make me unhappy, I assure you.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The little visitor meanwhile was as unhappy as possible.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But do not be unhappy, Eleanor.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I distinguished several other words without being able as yet to understand or apply them, such as _good, dearest, unhappy._

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

So she stayed on with Mother Holle for some time, and then she began to grow unhappy.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)