ungrateful

[ uhn-greyt-fuhl ]

adjective

1. unappreciative; not displaying gratitude; not giving due return or recompense for benefits conferred:

   ungrateful heirs.

2. unpleasant; distasteful; repellent:

   an ungrateful task.

ungrateful

/ ʌnˈɡreɪtfʊl /

adjective

1. not grateful or thankful
2. unrewarding or unpleasant; thankless
3. (of land) failing to increase fertility in response to cultivation

Derived Forms

• unˈgratefully, adverb
• unˈgratefulness, noun

Other Words From

• un·grateful·ly adverb
• un·grateful·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ungrateful¹

First recorded in 1545–55; un- ¹ + grateful

Example Sentences

They remained unified behind a president who promised to stick it to undocumented immigrants, ungrateful foreign leaders and out-of-touch elitists in academia and the media.

From Los Angeles Times

The speaker went on to bemoan “ungrateful black kids” and Jewish people in the community.

From BBC

“The county and city proclamations and certificates of appreciation — I mean, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but where am I going to put them? These things are huge. They take a lot of space, you know, and I don’t want a study that’s like a monument to s— I did, right?”

From Los Angeles Times

“I’m not ungrateful for it, and I sure need it. But when you do the math—and mathematics is the only language that’s pure—you can change everything up, but if one and one ain’t two, it ain’t right.”

From Slate

But some California leaders see Musk’s stance as ungrateful for the role the state has played in supporting his successes, particularly at Tesla and SpaceX.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• selfish