unchristian
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Alternation (due to Christian) of Middle English uncristen, uncristene, from Old English uncristen (“unchristian”), equivalent to un- + Christian. Compare West Frisian onkristen, Dutch onkristen (obsolete Dutch onchristen), Danish ukristen, Swedish okristen, Icelandic ókristinn.
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ʌnˈkɹɪstʃən/, /ʌnˈkɹɪstɪən/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ʌnˈkɹɪst͡ʃən/
- Rhymes: -ɪstʃən
Adjective edit
unchristian (comparative more unchristian, superlative most unchristian)
- Not of the Christian faith.
- Not in accord with Christian principles; without Christian spirit; unbefitting a Christian.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:
- I hope I may never again be in a state of mind so unchristian as the mental frame in which I lived for some weeks, respecting the memory of Master B. [His bell rang] two nights out of three, until I conceived the happy idea of twisting Master B.‘s neck […]
- 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 215:
- Arius […] eventually died obscurely, reputedly as the result of an acute attack of dysentery in a latrine in Constantinople, which circumstance afforded his enemies some unchristian pleasure, and was eventually commemorated with exemplary lack of charity in the Orthodox liturgy.
Usage notes edit
- unchristian is much more common than un-Christian.[1] GPO manual recommends using a hyphen when prefixing capitalized words except when usage dictates otherwise.[2]
Related terms edit
Translations edit
not of the Christian faith
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not in accord with Christian principles
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References edit
- ^ unchristian, un-Christian at Google Ngram Viewer
- ^ 6. Compounding Rules in U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, govinfo.gov
Further reading edit
- “unchristian”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “unchristian”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.