unethical

[uhn-eth-i-kuhl] / ʌnˈɛθ ɪ kəl /

ADJECTIVE

dishonest, immoral

Synonyms

STRONGEST

corrupt illegal improper underhanded unfair unprofessional unscrupulous wrong

WEAK

cheating crooked dirty dirty-dealing dishonorable disreputable double-crossing fake fishy flimflam fly-by-night mercenary shady sharp slick slippery sneaky two-faced two-timing underhand unprincipled

Antonyms

STRONGEST

appropriate correct decent ethical good honest moral principled right suitable uncorrupt

WEAK

upright

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“His unethical actions have had real, lasting consequences for our democracy, and we applaud the California Supreme Court’s decision to disbar him.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026

And it says its agency is being set up precisely to make sure there are "guardrails in place to avoid an unethical impact of AI".

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

It would be just as unethical for a therapist to use treatment to pressure someone into being LGBTQ+ as it is to use treatment to coerce someone out of being such an identity.

From Slate • Mar. 11, 2026

However, the idea of drilling holes in patients for a placebo is widely considered unethical, including by regulators in Europe, according to Schwartz.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 9, 2026

Later that year, a Harvard anesthesiologist named Henry Beecher published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that Southam’s research was only one of hundreds of similarly unethical studies.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Vocabulary lists containing unethical

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