undesirability

un·de·sir·a·ble

 (ŭn′dĭ-zīr′ə-bəl)

adj.

1. Not likely to please; objectionable: undesirable intrusions.

2. Not wanted: undesirable aliens.

n.

A person regarded as undesirable: "men tentatively regarded as scoundrels—or at least as undesirables" (New York).

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un′de·sir′a·bil′i·ty n.

un′de·sir′a·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Undesirability

 

1. About as inviting as Lenin’s tomb —Manuela Hoelterhoff, reporting on a large wall surrounding a new museum complex in Los Angeles, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 1986
2. About as pleasant as to have an umbrella jammed down your throat, and opened there, and pulled out open, so that the broken ribs lacerate your lungs, and beaten over the head with the handle —Don Marquis
3. About as thrilling as swimming lessons would be to a middle-aged goldfish —H. C. Witwer
4. As bad as marrying the devil’s daughter and living with the old folks —G. L. Apperson
5. As bad as offering Satan a lost soul —Emily Bronte
6. As desirable as meeting a former lover during a honeymoon —Elyse Sommer
7. As much fun as a month in Gdansk —Joseph Wambaugh
8. (John Singer Sargent liked to make painting portraits sound) attractive as catching toads for a living —Manuela Hoeltershoff, introducing review of John Singer Sargent show at Whitney Museum, Wall Street Journal, October 15, 1986
9. Come like ill weather, unsent for —Brian Melbancke
10. (She was … ) desirable … like a whore on a street corner —Derek Lambert
11. Disagreeable … like a scent which raises fine hair on animals —John Updike
12. Gave him no pleasure … it was like being invited to stretch himself out to be amputated, without an anesthetic —Storm Jameson
13. (Haggling about military bases) has all the joys of arm-wrestling on a sinking raft —New York Times editorial, March 23, 1987
14. Have about as much pleasure ahead of us as a pig in a butcher shop —George Garrett
15. Jumped at the chance like a sardine leaps for the can —Anon
16. Liked … about as much as I liked snakes or trunk murders —T. Coraghessan Boyle
17. Like foul weather, you come unsent for, and troublesome when you come —H. G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
18. To love as a cat loves mustard —John Ray’s Proverbs
19. Needed [an unpleasant scene] like a cover girl needs acne —Loren D. Estleman
20. Position as enviable as that of a catcher on a javelin team —George V. Higgins, on Rolland Smith’s interaction with Mariette Hartley on CBS-TV program, Wall Street Journal, January 19, 1987
21. To love as the devil loves holy water —John Ray’s Proverbs
22. To love it as a dog loves a whip —John Ray’s Proverbs
23. A trifle less welcome than something you would scrape off the bottom of your shoe —C. W. Grafton
24. An unpleasant guest is as welcome as salt to a sore eye —Danish proverb
25. Unsatisfying as a set compliment —Heywood Broun
26. Unwelcome as a mouse in your shoe —Elyse Sommer
27. Wanted (to play baseball) like he wanted a third nostril —Max Shulman
28. Welcome as a guest with sneakers at a Palm Beach party —Tom Brokaw
29. Welcome as a mugger —Anon
30. Welcome as a painful and chronic disease —Elyse Sommer
31. Welcome as a storm —Thomas Fuller
32. Welcome as a tree falling across your Volkswagon —“PM-TV Magazine”
33. Welcome as Satan —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
34. Welcome as snow at harvest time —John Ray’s Proverbs
35. Welcome as the season’s first snowstorm —Anon

    A skier or ski resort operator might look for this under the Desirability category.

36. (In the rarefied upper echelons of Japanese sumo wrestling, foreigners have been about as) welcome as Visigoths were at the gates of Rome —Clyde Haberman, about wrestler from Hawaii, New York Times, May 28, 1987
37. Welcome as water in a leaking ship —John Ray’s Proverbs

    To tone down the image of disaster to common distress, there’s another Ray proverb: “As welcome as water in one’s shoes.”

38. Welcomed … the way a cardiac case does chest pains —William Mcllvanney

Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

undesirability - the quality possessed by something that should be avoided bad, badness - that which is below standard or expectations as of ethics or decency; "take the bad with the good" desirability, desirableness - the quality of being worthy of desiring

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

Translations

undesirability

n

(of policy, effect) → Unerwünschtheit f; because of the general undesirability of the site → da der Bauplatz durchweg nur Nachteile hat

(of influence, characters, area) → Übelkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007