unacceptable

Something unacceptable is not okay — it's objectionable or displeasing. Hey, are you yelling in the library? That's unacceptable!

If a student's behavior is unacceptable, she may get detention or be sent to the principal's office. And if a restaurant patron's meal is unacceptable, he has every right to ask his server for something else. The adjective unacceptable adds the "not" prefix un- to acceptable, "suitable, adequate, or pleasing." We can trace the roots back to the Latin acceptare, "take or receive willingly."

Definitions of unacceptable
  1. adjective
    not acceptable; not welcome
    “a word unacceptable in polite society”
    “an unacceptable violation of personal freedom”
    Synonyms:
    exceptionable, objectionable
    liable to objection or debate; used of something one might take exception to
    unsatisfactory
    not giving satisfaction
    unwelcome
    not welcome; not giving pleasure or received with pleasure
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    acceptable
    worthy of acceptance or satisfactory
    bankable
    acceptable to or at a bank
    unexceptionable, unimpeachable
    completely acceptable; not open to exception or reproach
    unobjectionable
    not objectionable
    satisfactory
    giving satisfaction
    show more antonyms...
  2. adjective
    extremely unpleasant or annoying (of persons or their behavior)
    synonyms: impossible, insufferable, unsufferable
    intolerable, unbearable, unendurable
    incapable of being put up with
  3. adjective
    not adequate to give satisfaction
    “the coach told his players that defeat was unacceptable”
    Synonyms:
    unsatisfactory
    not giving satisfaction
  4. adjective
    not conforming to standard usage
    “the following use of `access' was judged unacceptable by a panel of linguists”
    synonyms: unaccepted
    nonstandard
    not conforming to the language usage of a prestige group within a community
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘unacceptable'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
Word Family

Vocabulary lists containing unacceptable

We're not asking, we're demanding: Vocabulary from "Selma," the movie

Although the words attributed to the historical figures captured in the film "Selma" -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Governor George Wallace of Alabama, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and President Lyndon B. Johnson -- were created by film creator Ava DuVernay and screenwriter Paul Webb for the purposes of the film, they carry the meaning, cadence, and certainly the vocabulary of their time.

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