unoften

English

WOTD – 9 September 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*upó

From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) +‎ often.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /(ˌ)ʌnˈɒf(t)ən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /(ˌ)ʌnˈɔf(t)ən/
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /(ˌ)ʌnˈɑf(t)ən/
• Rhymes: -ɒfən, -ɒftən
• Hyphenation: un‧oft‧en

Adverb

unoften (comparative more unoften, superlative most unoften)

1. (literary except India) Not often; rarely, seldom.

   Synonyms: (literary) unseldom; see also Thesaurus:rarely

   • 1657, [William Sprigg], “An Appendix of Brief Advice to Students”, in Philosophicall Essayes with Brief Adviso’s. […], London: […] J[ohn] S[treater] for Robert Blaggrave, […], →OCLC, section 13 (Passion), page 80:

     [B]evvare of Paſſion, as the moſt Capital enemy to the Crovvn and Empire of Reaſon: for thoſe Sons of Thunder […] if vve mark the Cataſtrophe of their turbulent lives vve ſhall find them concluded in a tempeſt, and not unoften like the Phœnix expire in a funerall pile themeſelves had kindled.

   • 1775, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Weasel”, in W[illiam] Kenrick, J[ohn] Murdoch, transl., The Natural History of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals; with the Theory of the Earth in General. […], volume II, London: […] T. Bell, […], →OCLC, page 217:

     In ſummer, it removes to ſome diſtance from the houſes, alvvays chooſing the lovver countries about the mills and ſtreams, hiding itſelf among the buſhes, in order to catch the birds, and not unoften taking up its habitation in the hollovv of an old vvillovv, vvhere the female may vvith greater convenience bring forth her young.

   • 1835, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Brawl”, in Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book I (The Time, the Place, and the Men), page 38:

     [T]he patricians of Rome were not unaccustomed to the rude fellowship of these brawls; nor was it unoften that the mere presence of a noble sufficed to scatter whole crowds, that had, the moment before, been breathing vengeance against his order and his house.

   • 1964 May, K. D. Malaviya [i.e., Keshav Dev Malviya], “Agricultural-Industrial Reorganisation”, in Amarnath Vidyalankar, editor, Congress Forum: Journal of the Congress Forum for Socialist Action, volume II, number 3, New Delhi: Congress Forum for Socialist Action, →OCLC, section III (The Agricultural Sector), page 18:

     Of deep concern for us has been the question of machinery for the implementation of land reforms. The present administrative set-up for the purpose, comprising as it does low revenue officials who not unoften belong to the upper crust of our rural society and are interested in non-implementation of land reform measures, has proved very unsatisfactory indeed.

   • 1974, V[ladimir] V[ladimirovich] Yakhontov, “Economic Importance”, in Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, transl., The Alfalfa Weevil or Phytonomus […] (TT 70-57232), New Delhi: Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre for the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation, →OCLC, page 3:

     Sometimes, the quarantine measures are so strict and affect such a large number of products that they upset the economic development of a place by prohibiting the exports of such products. It is natural on the part of the representatives of these areas to put up, not unoften, fight against the promulgated laws. The validity of some laws has been questioned, not unoften, by entomologists also […].

   • 2004, Parmanand Parashar, “The Folklore and Songs”, in Kashmir: The Paradise of Asia, New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, →ISBN, page 330:

     Not unoften do rural women work at the spinning wheel.

Usage notes

• Almost exclusively used in the phrase not unoften, an example of litotes.

Translations

not often — see rarely,‎ seldom