From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishunsuitableun‧suit‧a‧ble /ʌnˈsuːtəbəl, -ˈsjuː- $ -ˈsuː-/ ●○○ adjective WRONG/UNSUITABLEnot having the right qualities for a particular person, purpose, or situation SYN inappropriate unsuitable housingunsuitable for The book is unsuitable for children.THESAURUSunsuitable/not suitable not having the right qualities for a particular person, purpose, or situationThese toys are not suitable for children under 3.The job was considered unsuitable for women.Some dogs end up in totally unsuitable homes.not appropriate/inappropriate not suitable for a particular situation or purpose – used especially about someone’s behaviour or languageSlang is not appropriate in an academic essay.Never reward inappropriate behaviour.It would not be appropriate for us to comment at this stage.wrong not the right thing or person for a particular job or purposeYou’re using the wrong spoon – this is the soup spoon.She was simply the wrong person for the job.out of place [not before noun] not looking or seeming suitable for that place or situationThe horse drawn carriage looks a little out of place among the busy traffic.At first I felt a bit out of place.incompatible two ideas or things that are incompatible cannot exist or be done together. Two people who are incompatible are unlikely to have a successful relationship, because they have very different characters, beliefs etcHe considered the role of wife and mother to be incompatible with a career.Why do totally incompatible people get married?incongruous formal seeming strange and unsuitable, often in a humorous way, because of being unexpected in a particular situation or very different from its surroundingsIt seemed incongruous having a dance-band at the funeral.He was dressed in a three-piece suit with an incongruous tie shaped like a fish.inconvenient an inconvenient place or time is not suitable and causes problems for youHe always seems to call at inconvenient times.The new station is inconvenient to pedestrians, because it is a long walk from the centre of town.unfit not suitable to be used for something, or not suitable to do something The boat is not only unfit to live in but is actually unsafe.The meat was declared unfit for human consumption (=not suitable to eat). He claims she is an unfit mother.A jury decided Pryse-Jones was unfit to stand trial at court because of his mental illness.The house was unfit for human habitation (=not suitable to live in).
Examples from the Corpus
unsuitable• Ecologically, too, pop is highly unsuitable.• Since the statistics are collected for administrative rather than sociological purposes, the definitions used and the classifications made are often unsuitable.• Masters degree theses were excluded because the smaller numbers made them unsuitable for analysis.• Patients with brittle diabetes or recurrent staphylococcal infections are also unsuitable for infusion pumps.• Honey wears Bernie's unsuitable hat.• It is seen as very helpful in some areas but entirely unsuitable in others.• Councils were supposed to set up sites for industrial and domestic wastes; the Baldonnell site was to marshal other unsuitable wastes.unsuitable for children• The hotel is unsuitable for children.• The number of tickets issued will be limited to 600 and unfortunately the venue is unsuitable for children.• Ward says authorities have found them unsuitable for children with disabilities. 