unmeritable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ meritable.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌʌnˈmɛɹɪtəbl̩/

Adjective

unmeritable (comparative more unmeritable, superlative most unmeritable)

  1. Not meritable; undeserving of reward.
    • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 123, column 2:
      This is a ſlight vnmeritable man, / Meet to be ſent on Errands : is it fit / The three-fold VVorld diuided, he ſhould ſtand / One of the three to ſhare it?
    • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Our Comportment in and after Our Receiving the Blessed Sacrament. Sect[ion] I. Of the Circumstances and Manner of Reception of the Divine Mysteries.”, in The Worthy Communicant or A Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings Consequent to the Worthy Receiving of the Lords Supper [], London: [] R. Norton for John Martyn, James Allestry, and Thomas Dicas [], published 1661, →OCLC, pages 539–540:
      The effect of this conſideration ought to be, [] that you give God moſt hearty and ſuperexalted thanks, vvith all the tranſports and raviſhments of ſpirit, for ſo unſpeakable, ſo unmeritable, ſo unrevvardable a loving kindneſs.
    • 1884 May, “Wordsworth and Byron”, in James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century, volume XV, page 780:
      [A]nd Wordsworth, it may be confessed, was liable to failure [] with a result sometimes merely trivial and unmeritable, sometimes actually repulsive or oppressive.