unenviable

un·en·vi·able | \ ˌən-ˈen-vē-ə-bəl

How to pronounce unenviable (audio)

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Definition of unenviable

: not desirable or pleasant : not arousing envy : not enviable an unenviable position Kent Alterman, our director, had the unenviable task of herding cats.— Will Ferrell

Examples of unenviable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This month, Thompson received an unenviable designation from the Athletic: worst contract in the league. — Connor Letourneau, SFChronicle.com, "Klay Thompson: Warriors banking on ‘Splash Brother’ returning to 100%," 25 June 2020 Grandparents Bob and Marsha Mangine have had the unenviable task of comforting his parents, Matt and Kim, while also grieving the loss of a treasured grandson. — Scott Springer, Cincinnati.com, "Family of St. Henry soccer player Matt Mangine Jr. speak of immeasurable grief," 18 June 2020 The allegations put American voters who value gender rights and reproductive justice in the unenviable position. — Brianna Provenzano, refinery29.com, "Tara Reade’s Former Neighbour Corroborated Her Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden," 28 Apr. 2020 Parents in this unenviable position must resign themselves to a terrible burden. — Joumana Khatib, New York Times, "Buying Dora Maar’s Diary on eBay and Other Classy Tales From France," 24 Apr. 2020 Jim Brock, in the unenviable position of replacing Winkles in 1972, forged his own legacy through success (two national titles) and longevity (1,099 wins in 23 seasons). — Jeff Metcalfe, azcentral, "Bobby Winkles: On ASU golden era coaching Mount Rushmore," 18 Apr. 2020 Melissa Cade, the clinical director of substance use services, has the unenviable job of keeping the wait list for those beds. — Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, "As COVID-19 strains Dallas medical care, this invisible lifesaver keeps the poorest among us out of ERs," 1 Apr. 2020 Vanessa, for example, makes only about $11 an hour for the unenviable job of disinfecting hospital rooms, often without proper protective gear for herself. — Jamie Ducharme, Time, "'No One Mentions the People Who Clean It Up': What It's Like to Clean Professionally During the COVID-19 Outbreak," 31 Mar. 2020 Cement rotations Malone has the unenviable job of finding minutes for players when there simply aren’t any to be doled out. — Mike Singer, The Denver Post, "Nuggets journal: Five New Year’s resolutions that could raise Denver’s profile," 28 Dec. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'unenviable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

2 Jul 2020

Cite this Entry

“Unenviable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unenviable. Accessed 5 Jul. 2020.

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