Crossword Dictionary
UNWHOLESOME
unwholesome - a
detrimental to physical or moral well-being; "unwholesome food"; "unwholesome habits like smoking"
Synonyms
insalubrious, noisome, noxious, sickly, unhealthful, unhealthy
Examples
More than one would have seemed lacking in taste, unwholesome, even unchristian (tho there were several WC's ).
At around the same time there were some rather unwholesome things happening back in the Highlands of Scotland.
Such a place must be very unwholesome, and the smell of it was complained of by the neighbors.
Etymology
c. 1200, from un- (1) "not" + wholesome (adj.). Similar formation in Flemish onheylsaem, German unheilsam, Old Norse uheilsamr.
un- (1)
prefix of negation, Old English un-, from Proto-Germanic *un- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German, German un-, Gothic un-, Dutch on-), from PIE *n- (source of Sanskrit a-, an- "not," Greek a-, an-, Old Irish an-, Latin in-), combining form of PIE root *ne- "not." Often euphemistic (such as untruth for "lie").
wholesome (adj.)
c. 1200, "of benefit to the soul," from whole (adj.) in the "healthy" sense + -some (1). Physical sense first attested late 14c. Related: Wholesomely; wholesomeness. Old English had halwende.