unfair

A2 Topic:Ethics & Social Judgment

US /ʌnˈfɛɚ/ UK /ʌnˈfɛə(ɹ)/ See IPA manual

adj verb Freq #4324

Meanings

1

adj
Not fair; not treating people equally or in a just way.

It was unfair for the boss to give larger bonuses to his friends.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · not fair; not treating... unjustinequitable

Word family

Forms unfairerunfairest

Related forms biased cheating discriminatory dishonest dishonorable disproportionate excessive foul invidious partial prejudiced underhanded

Etymology

From Middle English unfair (“unattractive, unseemly”), from Old English unfæġer (“ugly”), equivalent to un- + fair.

unfair Middle English unfæġer Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Ethics & Social Judgment

# unfair

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj, verb
**IPA (US):** ʌnˈfɛɚ
**IPA (UK):** ʌnˈfɛə(ɹ)
**Frequency rank:** 4324

## Meanings
1. Not fair; not treating people equally or in a just way.

## Examples
- It was unfair for the boss to give larger bonuses to his friends.

## Related Forms
- biased
- cheating
- discriminatory
- dishonest
- dishonorable
- disproportionate
- excessive
- foul
- invidious
- partial
- prejudiced
- underhanded

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: unfair
- Root: unfæġer
- Affix: un- - not

## Etymology
From Middle English unfair (“unattractive, unseemly”), from Old English unfæġer (“ugly”), equivalent to un- + fair.

## AI Etymology
Unfair is from Middle English unfair (“unattractive, unseemly”), from Old English unfæġer (“ugly”), equivalent to un- + fair. The historical line also includes Middle English unfair, Old English unfæġer. In present-day use, it can mean not fair; not treating people equally or in a just way.

## Topics
- Ethics & Social Judgment

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unfair

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