ungood

See also: Ungood and ++ungood

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ungod, from Old English ungōd, equivalent to un- (“not”) +‎ good (adjective). Popularised by its appearance in Newspeak, a fictional language coined in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a dystopian novel by George Orwell.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʌnˈɡʊd/

Adjective

ungood (comparative more ungood, superlative most ungood)

1. Not good; bad.
   • 1660, George Swinnock, “The Beauty of Magistracy: An Exposition of Psalm LXXXII.”, in Works‎^[1], volume IV, published 1868, The Beauty of Magistracy, page 236:

     An unjust judge, as one well observes, is a cold fire, a dark sun, a dry sea, a mare mortuum, an ungood god, contradictio in adjecto, monsters, not men, much less gods.

   • 1947 March 8, “Dirty Work at the X-Roads?”, in Billboard‎^[2], volume 59, number 11, Nielsen Business Media, Inc., published 1947 March 15, →ISSN, page 50:

     Now to make a short story shorter, we all know this is very ungood for a new motor and I do not want to thank the person or persons who unwittingly left their fingerprints, of which I have photostatic copies, so that might detect the presence of graphite before staring the motor.

   • 1988, Clarice Lispector, The Passion According to G.H.‎^[3], →ISBN, page 5:

     What I was before wasn't good for me. But it was from that ungood that I put together something better: I had put together hope. From my own ungood I had created a future good.

   • 2008, Rodney Davis, The Revelation Voyage‎^[4], →ISBN, page 14:

     “Way ungood guys, way ungood.”

   • 2010 June 6, "Tim", “Re:McDonald's Ad Promotes Teenage Homosexuality”, in alt.socieity.liberalism‎^[5] (Usenet):

     And remember! Islam is ungood; atheism, file sharing, civil liberties and homosexuality are doubleplusungood.

   • 2010, Timothy M. Dale, Joseph J. Foy, Kate Mulgrew, quoting Jon Stewart, “The Daily Show and the Politics of Truth”, in Homer Simpson Marches on Washington: Dissent Through American Popular Culture‎^[6], →ISBN, Popular Culture as Public Space, page 48:

     This man is very, very ungood.

2. (in the plural) Those who are not good; the wicked, evil, or bad.
   • 2009, Andra Chambers, The Book of Wisdom, page 88:

     The authorities desire to deceive humankind, because they perceived him being in a kinship to the truly good. So they took the word 'good', they applied it to the ungood so that thru words they might deceive and bind him within the ungood.

Usage notes

• Although the intensified word used in Orwell's Newspeak is plus-ungood, this is not used in English. The base term (positive) is significantly rarer than the most intensified term double-plus-ungood.
• The prescribed comparative and superlative forms in Newspeak are ungooder and ungoodest (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, "Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak").

Synonyms

• bad

Antonyms

• good
• double-plus-good (Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four)

Derived terms

• double-plus-ungood (Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four)

Etymology 2

From Middle English ungod (“evil”), equivalent to un- (“lack of”) +‎ good (noun). Cognate with German Low German Ungood (“bad, evil”), German Ungüte (“ungood”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʌnˌɡʊd/

Noun

ungood (uncountable)

1. (rare) Lack or absence of good; goodlessness; bad
   • 1953, Tech Engineering News, volume 35, page 34:

     Here we can see that electricity is merely a manifestation of the fundamental dichotomy of the dualistic universe, the struggle between Good and Ungood, between Yin and Yang.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Parliamentary Debates Australia: Senate, page 5982:

     This government has bought the myths and is determined to foist this 'ungood' on every Australian citizen. I say 'ungood' deliberately.

   • 2013, Shana Abé, The Truelove Bride:

     “ […] In some, however, the ungood has turned inside out. It tortures only the spirit within.”

Anagrams

• goodun, goondu