unhelpful

adjective

un·​help·​ful ˌən-ˈhelp-fəl How to pronounce unhelpful (audio)
 Southern often  -ˈhep-,
 also  -ˈheəp-
: offering no assistance : not helpful
a rude, unhelpful person
a confusing and unhelpful textbook
unhelpfully adverb
unhelpfulness noun

Examples of unhelpful in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Amazon said the chatbot is still under development and might sometimes offer unhelpful suggestions. Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2024 Critics argue that police methods are key to Japan's safety, dismissing the lawsuit as unhelpful and foreign -- an alien intrusion on Japanese norms. Anthony Trotter, ABC News, 2 Feb. 2024 In director Ridley Scott’s masterful 1979 original Alien, there’s indeed both the titular primordial monster and two sinister AI elements (the murderous android Ash and the ship’s persistently unhelpful supercomputer Mother). James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Jan. 2024 His appearances may be inaccurate or irrelevant or unhelpful to his legal defense. James Poniewozik, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2024 Aquarius January 20 – February 18 Correcting unhelpful self-talk could improve your mindset today. Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 9 Feb. 2024 Still, having fatherhood in common was surprisingly unhelpful to the actor. Emy Lacroix, Peoplemag, 11 Dec. 2023 Trade needs to support the imperative of climate change action yet at the same time resist unhelpful protectionism. Bybørge Brende, Fortune, 15 Jan. 2024 Part of that is an expectations problem; the WNBA has been plagued by unhelpful—if natural—comparisons to the men’s league. Jennifer Wilson, The New York Review of Books, 7 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unhelpful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1616, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unhelpful was circa 1616

Dictionary Entries Near unhelpful

Cite this Entry

“Unhelpful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unhelpful. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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