ungood

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.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʌnˈɡʊd/

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, 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, 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.‎, →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, →ISBN, page 14:

     “Way ungood guys, way ungood.”

   • 2010 June 6, "Tim", “Re:McDonald's Ad Promotes Teenage Homosexuality”, in alt.socieity.liberalism‎ (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, →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.

• 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").

• bad

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

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

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʌnˌɡʊd/

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.”

• goodun, goondu