Unedifying describes a scene or a piece of behaviour that is ugly to watch — undignified, a bit shameful, and teaching nobody anything good. Politicians shouting over each other, two famous people arguing in public, a family fighting over money after a funeral: a writer calls these an unedifying spectacle or an unedifying sight. The word carries a raised eyebrow. It is what a disapproving observer says while standing slightly back from the mess, and it always implies 'grown people should behave better than this'. To feel it properly, look at edify. To edify someone is to improve them morally — to make them a better person. It comes from the Latin for building, so the picture underneath is building someone up. So unedifying literally means 'this builds nobody up' — you watched it and came away no better, maybe slightly dirtier. That is why the word suits public quarrels so well. Two practical notes. It is formal and mostly written, at home in newspapers and commentary rather than conversation. And it describes the situation or behaviour, not the person: say 'an unedifying row', not 'he was unedifying'.

難看的、不堪入目的、有失體面的（多指公開的爭執或醜態）。中文常說「場面很難看」——那正是這個字的味道：帶著皺眉頭的評論語氣，通常出現在新聞或評論文章裡，不是日常聊天用語。