unfavourably

adv

"unfavourably" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“unfavourably” is uncommon English (frequency #73,758 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,758
frequency rank, English
1,433
“U” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In an unfavourable manner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-unfavourably · unfavourably · English

unfavourably · rank #73,758 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,758
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,433
  • PHOTO-FINISH unequalled

Nearest frequency peer: unequalled (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “unfavourably”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “unfavourably” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for unfavourably
PropertyValue
Headwordunfavourably
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters12
Frequency rank#73,758
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “unfavourably” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).unfavourablyfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “unequalled” (#73,757), “unsaved” (#73,759), “undigested” (#73,756). Among 1,433 “U” headwords, “unfavourably” is #73,758. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

unfavourably is uncommon English at frequency #73,758 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In an unfavourable manner.".

No misspelling variants are generated for unfavourably in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From unfavourable + -ly. The correct English form is unfavourably, spelled U-N-F-A-V-O-U-R-A-B-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In an unfavourable manner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how unfavourably appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Neither the Type 2 nor the Type 3 locomotives have so far reached a satisfactory standard of performance. [...] The number of miles per failure is still too low and therefore compares unfavourably with steam engine performance.

Etymology

From unfavourable + -ly.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "unfavourably"?
"unfavourably" is spelled U-N-F-A-V-O-U-R-A-B-L-Y.
What does "unfavourably" mean?
As an adverb, "unfavourably" means: In an unfavourable manner.
What is the origin of the word "unfavourably"?
From unfavourable + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "unfavourably", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list