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
  • Gastroenteritis is a good reason to refrain from consuming cocaine, various heavy metals or poisonous mushrooms.
    Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
  • Then his heart beat its last, and the poisonous moth embraced him.
    Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 24 July 2025
Adjective
  • The change comes amid concerns about fireworks causing unhealthful air.
    Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025
  • 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
Adjective
  • Evidence, while not conclusive, suggested the babies died from breathing in toxic black mold contaminating their homes due to water leaks.
    Matt Fuchs, Time, 28 July 2025
  • But too much of one specific type of algae can be toxic, causing a harmful algal bloom, also sometimes known as a red tide.
    Lex Harvey, CNN Money, 26 July 2025
Adjective
  • But unlike Materialists, those movies—pictures like Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth or Preston Sturges’ The Palm Beach Story—emerged in a time when Hollywood censors were keeping a close eye on movies’ ideology, determined to protect audiences from unwholesome influences.
    Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 13 June 2025
  • By mid-afternoon the weather turned downright unwholesome.
    Arthur Grahame, Outdoor Life, 4 June 2025
Adjective
  • State law specifically names these three plants as noxious weeds: Municipalities can add to this list based on recommendations from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' invasive species list.
    Quinn Clark, jsonline.com, 25 July 2025
  • While seven out of 10 Indians are exposed to noxious air, pregnant women and their unborn children are among the most impacted.
    Anuradha Varanasi, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
Adjective
  • There are so many stereotypes and stigmas about what a cancer patient looks like—bald, weak, sickly.
    Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 May 2025
  • The lunchtime sun was bright, tinting everything in a sickly golden tone.
    Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Warm, sunny weather optimizes the conditions for this sort of reaction, meaning unhealthy ozone levels are often seen in the summer.
    Maia Pandey, jsonline.com, 24 July 2025
  • When air is stagnant, pollutants don't get dispersed, allowing ozone to build up to unhealthy levels.
    Joe Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 July 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 5 Aug. 2025.

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