insanitary

I1N1S1A1N1I1T1A1R1Y4

adjective

Of or pertaining to a lack of sanitation; unsanitary, dirty, unhealthy.

RareScrabble 13

Meanings

adjectiveinsanitary (comparative more insanitary, superlative most insanitary)

comparative more insanitary · superlative most insanitary

  1. Of or pertaining to a lack of sanitation; unsanitary, dirty, unhealthy.

    The important duty of getting rid of uninhabitable houses or insanitary property devolves on the sanitary authority, and requires to be carried out with discrimination.

    1892 May 14, The Lancet, page 1089
    2 more examples

    The insanitary house displayed poor heating and plumbing, arsenical wallpaper and, in the basement area at the front of the house, 'a large wooden dustbin, placed as is frequently the case, where its malodorous and often dangerous contents must be a constant nuisance on the premises'.

    2014, Lee Jackson, Dirty Old London: The Victorian Fight Against Filth, page 17

    Within the minority of nuisance fines for which the ward was recorded, however, there was a striking degree of symmetry across the wards, a difference of only eighteen between the ward with the most insanitary nuisances, Monk Ward, and that with the fewest, Micklegate Ward.

    2015, Leona J. Skelton, Sanitation in Urban Britain, 1560–1700

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivenot sanitary or healthful

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Italic*n̥-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Middle Englishin-
  6. Englishin-
  7. Englishsanitary
  8. Englishinsanitary

From in- + sanitary.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French insalubre
  • insalubreTranslations
Polish antysanitarny, niehigieniczny
  • antysanitarnyTranslations
  • niehigienicznyTranslations
Romanian insalubru
  • insalubruTranslations
Russian антисанита́рный
  • антисанита́рный (antisanitárnyj)Translations
Spanish insanitario
  • insanitarioTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

insanitary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/insanitary

MLA

“insanitary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/insanitary. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “insanitary,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/insanitary.

Source: insanitary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.