Meaning

2 senses
  1. Not holy; (by extension) evil, impure, or otherwise perverted.

    The priest's unholy behaviour brought the church into disrepute.

    unheilig

    нечестивыйnečestivyj, порочныйporočnyj

  2. Dreadful, terrible, excessive, or otherwise atrocious.

    What an unholy mess your room is in!

    I've been spending an unholy amount of time trying to write a novel!

More definitions
  • not hallowed or consecrated
  • having committed unrighteous acts
  • extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell

Examples

6 sentences
  1. Sami embodied that unholy mix of holy water and drugs.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · OsoHombre · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  2. After eating at the pizzeria, Tom got a case of unholy diarrhea.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Eccles17 · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. I guess vanity and stupidity are making an unholy alliance inside you.

    deBei dir gehen wohl Eitelkeit und Dummheit eine unselige Allianz ein.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · rul · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. For you guys' repeated acts of pretending to be possess inability to be made unholy.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Nandixer · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  5. Through their unholy alliance, the ambitious campaign manager and the morally compromised politician make their way to the top.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · Cangarejo · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

5 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
not holy; evil:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
not holy; evil:

Origin

From Middle English unholi, unhaliȝ, from Old English unhāliġ, from Proto-Germanic *unhail

From Middle English unholi, unhaliȝ, from Old English unhāliġ, from Proto-Germanic *unhailagaz, equivalent to un- + holy. Cognate with Scots unhaly, Dutch onheilig, German Low German unhillig, German unheilig, Danish uhellig, Swedish ohelig.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

unholier/more unholy, unholiest/most unholy
Comparativeunholier / more unholy Lesson
Superlativeunholiest / most unholy Lesson

regular

Synonyms

16 synonyms
Close in meaning

Antonyms

10 antonyms

Word family

5 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
unholy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto