as in poisonous
bad for the well-being of the body after inhaling the insalubrious city smog for a month, I was happy to once again breathe in the fresh air of the country

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of insalubrious Two figures, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary who has blown hot and cold over whether children can go back to school, and Robert Jenrick, the local-government minister, who is entangled in a scandal with an insalubrious party donor, look particularly dismal. The Economist, 20 June 2020 The refuse rising in insalubrious piles, some taller than the pedestrians trying to avoid them, is a smelly, visceral symbol of popular outrage at the government’s plan. Catherine Porter, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2023 Many of the area's most insalubrious haunts are long gone, and in their place mostly restaurants, which come and go. Tom Page, CNN, 30 Jan. 2023 Exercise enjoys a health halo, justifying, for some of us, insalubrious habits. Gretchen Reynolds, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Jan. 2023 In letters sent to the regional authorities in the early 1950s and seen by The New York Times, the nuns warned about a lack of food, and the insalubrious dormitory and canteen. New York Times, 3 Nov. 2021 On the site of an important 19th-century water mill, in a somewhat insalubrious part of town, is a modest looking Mosque with a beautiful new artwork. Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insalubrious
Adjective
  • From such small radioactive acorns do poisonous oaks grow.
    Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 19 May 2025
  • The attack, which only killed the bomber but could have been much worse, is an act worthy of perhaps the dumbest and most poisonous ideology on the planet right now.
    Rich Lowry, National Review, 19 May 2025
Adjective
  • The unhealthful effects of autocracy remain robust even when accounting for economic differences and when excluding Venezuela and its collapsing health-care system.
    Thomas J. Bollyky, Foreign Affairs, 30 Jan. 2020
  • However, communities in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains were still experiencing unhealthful air quality, according to the air district.
    Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2024
Adjective
  • From start to finish, Magic Mike XXL is an absolute joy—a film that boldly rejects toxic masculinity, that isn’t driven by rivalries or alpha dynamics or cynicism, that features men who build each other up, who cry together, who admit fears, who help each other accomplish their goals.
    Travis Bean, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
  • For more than 100 years, trash, toxic materials, and sewage from failing treatment plants on both sides of the border have fouled the river.
    Joe Mathews, Mercury News, 16 May 2025
Adjective
  • As for the place, its veneer of comfortable tourism doesn’t hide the air of something unwholesome, especially when female guests start randomly throwing up.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2024
  • Less visibly, Manton operated a side business with a more unwholesome objective: cashing in on his status and power as a judge.
    Time, Time, 25 July 2023
Adjective
  • Latest projections for UConn’s Liam McNeeley before NBA Draft Combine; Samson Johnson receiving buzz Latest projections for UConn's Liam McNeeley before NBA Draft Combine; Samson Johnson receiving buzz Battle against CT weed known as ‘most noxious, invasive’ ever hits trouble.
    Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 12 May 2025
  • Missing this chance would mean even more noxious uses separating the harbor from adjacent communities, continuing to burden them with environmental harm.
    Tiffany-Ann Taylor, New York Daily News, 5 May 2025
Adjective
  • No matter how much you are tempted, sickly plants should be kept out of the greenhouse.
    Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 16 Apr. 2025
  • But does that mean that vegans are going against human’s evolutionary history and are bound to be weak, sickly, and even stupid?
    Marianne Krasny, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Don’t resist it — this is about breaking free from unhealthy patterns and establishing something productive and sustainable.
    Valerie Mesa, People.com, 12 May 2025
  • The most common type is primary hypertension, which has no identifiable cause but can stem from a variety of factors like unhealthy lifestyle habits (e.g., physical inactivity or a high-salt diet), genetics, and aging.
    Colleen Doherty, Verywell Health, 12 May 2025
Adjective
  • Employees were observed to only sanitize their gloved hands after touching insanitary surfaces and then resumed touching RTE food and various food contact surfaces.
    Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 12 Jan. 2025
  • In a civil complaint filed Sept. 27 in federal court, authorities allege that Rizo Lopez Foods violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act at the company’s facility in Modesto by manufacturing and distributing food products that have been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions.
    Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Insalubrious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insalubrious. Accessed 23 May. 2025.

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