SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
unscrupulous
adjective
Willing to act dishonestly or unfairly without regard for moral principles.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Without moral scruples
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topUnscrupulous implies willingness to disregard right conduct. Ruthless focuses on lack of mercy, while shady is an informal expression of suspicion.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See unscrupulous in use
The story follows an unscrupulous collector who sells convincing forgeries.
An unscrupulous trader helped favored customers obtain extra shares by knowingly presenting invented household records.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license