unreasonable
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English unresonable; equivalent to un- + reason + -able.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
unreasonable (comparative more unreasonable, superlative most unreasonable)
- Without the ability to reason; unreasoning.
- c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- Hold thy desperate hand:
Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
The unreasonable fury of a beast:
Unseemly woman in a seeming man!
- Not reasonable; going beyond what could be expected or asked for.
- Antonym: reasonable
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:27:
- For it seemeth to me vnreasonable, to send a prisoner, and not withall to signifie the crimes laid against him.
- 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 11, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792, →OCLC:
- The will of those who never allow their will to be disputed, unless they happen to be in a good humour, when they relax proportionally, is almost always unreasonable.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
not reasonable
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