ungod

English

Etymology

un- +‎ god. Compare Dutch ontgoden, German entgöttern.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈɡɒd/

Verb

ungod (third-person singular simple present ungods, present participle ungodding, simple past and past participle ungodded)

1. (transitive) To divest of a god; to atheize.
   • 1687, John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther:

     Thus men ungodded may to places rise, / And sects may be preferr'd without disguise: / No danger to the church or state from these; / The Papist only has his writ of ease.

2. (transitive) To divest of godly powers; to strip of divinity.
   • 1830, Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter:

     He that would have another god, would have the Lord to be ungodded, and to lose his sovereign power and goodness!

   • 2008, Matt Kimmich, Offspring Fictions: Salman Rushdie's Family Novels:

     Perhaps Saladin's "ungodding" of his father is a necessary first step for the male child's emancipation...

Noun

ungod (plural ungods)

1. A false god; an idol
   • 2008, Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses:

     They provoked Me with an ungod, they vexed Me with their empty things.

   • 2011, Slavoj Žižek, John Milbank, Creston Davis, The Monstrosity of Christ:

     [...] it isn't that Godhead “isn't God,” it's that Godhead is a non-God, an “Ungod” (in the same sense as we talk of the “undead” who are neither living or dead, but the living dead).

   • 2015, M.P. Joseph, Theologies of the Non-Person:

     The god of cult is an ungod, because the god of cult represents a god molded in the image of the worshippers and created to satisfy their innate ambitions and it is likewise with the god of dogma, which is a reified form of idolatry.

   • 2016, Tanith Lee, No Flame But Mine:

     He had not blinked, Curjai noted, not once in many minutes. Perhaps not since he had come to out there in the snow. 'When you – recovered, what did you think had happened to you?' 'I know what happened. One of your local gler ungods struck me, turned me to ice. Death. I didn't want to go. It was wrong.'

Anagrams

• Duong, gound, undog

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *ungōd. Equivalent to un- (“un-”) +‎ gōd (“good”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈunˌɡoːd/

Adjective

ungōd

1. not good, bad

Declension

Declension of ungōd — Strong

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ungōd	ungōd	ungōd
Accusative	ungōdne	ungōde	ungōd
Genitive	ungōdes	ungōdre	ungōdes
Dative	ungōdum	ungōdre	ungōdum
Instrumental	ungōde	ungōdre	ungōde
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ungōde	ungōda, ungōde	ungōd
Accusative	ungōde	ungōda, ungōde	ungōd
Genitive	ungōdra	ungōdra	ungōdra
Dative	ungōdum	ungōdum	ungōdum
Instrumental	ungōdum	ungōdum	ungōdum

Declension of ungōd — Weak

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ungōda	ungōde	ungōde
Accusative	ungōdan	ungōdan	ungōde
Genitive	ungōdan	ungōdan	ungōdan
Dative	ungōdan	ungōdan	ungōdan
Instrumental	ungōdan	ungōdan	ungōdan
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ungōdan	ungōdan	ungōdan
Accusative	ungōdan	ungōdan	ungōdan
Genitive	ungōdra, ungōdena	ungōdra, ungōdena	ungōdra, ungōdena
Dative	ungōdum	ungōdum	ungōdum
Instrumental	ungōdum	ungōdum	ungōdum

Descendants

• Middle English: ungode, vngood
  • English: ungood

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “ungód”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[1], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.