ungrammatical

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adjective

In violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language as defined by the grammar, resulting in unacceptable or incorrect usage.

Opposite
UncommonScrabble 20

Meanings

adjectiveungrammatical (comparative more ungrammatical, superlative most ungrammatical)

comparative more ungrammatical · superlative most ungrammatical

  1. human sciencesIn violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language as defined by the grammar, resulting in unacceptable or incorrect usage.

    That comment seemed to anger Ingraham, who called James’ view a “barely intelligible, not to mention ungrammatical take on President Trump.”

    2018 February 17, Devan Cole, “LeBron James: ‘I am more than an athlete’”, in CNN
    2 more examples

    My Greek is not the tongue of Homer or Aeschylus but a sloppy ungrammatical sabir lacking Attic salt and tending to a saccharinity which sets my teeth on edge.

    1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked

    While adopting the pronoun as a nonbinary description is vastly preferable for some, Merriam-Webster says, there has also been some debate that it is ungrammatical.

    2019 September 17, Kendall Trammell, “Merriam-Webster adds the nonbinary pronoun ‘they’ to its dictionary”, in CNN

    Synonyms: agrammatical, ungrammatic · Antonyms: grammatical

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveIn violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language as defined by the grammar, resulting in unacceptable or incorrect usage.

Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivenot grammatical; not conforming to the rules of grammar or accepted usage

Opposite

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Englishgrammatical
  9. Englishungrammatical

From un- + grammatical.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic مَلْحُون
  • مَلْحُون (malḥūn)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Catalan agramatical
  • agramaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Chinese Mandarin 不合文法的, 非文法的
  • 不合文法的 (bùhé wénfǎ de)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
  • 非文法的 (fēi wénfǎ de)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Esperanto kontraŭgramatika
  • kontraŭgramatikain violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Estonian ebagrammatiline
  • ebagrammatilinein violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Finnish kieliopillisesti virheellinen
  • kieliopillisesti virheellinenin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
French agrammatical
  • agrammaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
German ungrammatisch
  • ungrammatischin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Greek αντιγραμματικός
  • αντιγραμματικός (antigrammatikós)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Hebrew לא דקדוקי
  • לא דקדוקי (lo dikdukí)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Italian sgrammaticato
  • sgrammaticatoin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Japanese 破格, 非文法的
  • 破格 (hakaku)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
  • 非文法的 (hibunpōteki)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Korean 비문법적
  • 비문법적 (bimunbeopjeok)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Polish niegramatyczny, agramatyczny
  • niegramatycznyin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
  • agramatycznyin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Portuguese agramatical, antigramatical
  • agramaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
  • antigramaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
  • ingramaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Romanian negramatical
  • negramaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Russian неграммати́ческий, негра́мотный
  • неграммати́ческий (negrammatíčeskij)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
  • негра́мотный (negrámotnyj)in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Spanish agramatical
  • agramaticalin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Swedish ogrammatisk
  • ogrammatiskin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Turkish dilbilgisi dışı
  • dilbilgisi dışıin violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language
Cite this entry
APA

ungrammatical. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ungrammatical

MLA

“ungrammatical.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ungrammatical. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ungrammatical,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ungrammatical.

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