unmercifuladj.n.

Brit.

/(ˌ)ʌnˈməːsᵻf(ᵿ)l/, U.S.

/ˌənˈmərsəf(ə)l/

Forms: see un- prefix¹ and merciful adj. and n.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: un- prefix¹, merciful adj.

Etymology: < un- prefix¹ + merciful adj.

A. adj.

a. Esp. of a person: not having or exercising mercy; cruel, pitiless. Frequently with to, towards. Cf. earlier unmerciable adj.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [adjective] > merciless

orelesseOE

sternc1275

fell?c1335

unmerciablea1382

wantona1393

mercilessc1400

unmercifula1425

gracelessc1425

unmercifula1450

unmerciless1545

unsparinga1586

spareless1589

unhuman1611

inclement1621

unmercied1627

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Jer. l. 42 Thei schulen take bowe and swerd, thei ben cruel and vnmerciful [L. inmisericordes].

1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 36 He was alway to hem vnmercyful.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxvi^v The vnmercifull pagans and cruel Turkes.

?1594 H. Constable Diana (new ed.) vii. vii. sig. F2 Seeke with humble prayer, Meanes how to mooue th' vnmercifullest fayre.

a1600 (?c1535) tr. H. Boece Hist. Scotl. (1946) ii. v. 86 He grewe in fellony like ane cruell vnmercifull vnbeist.

1631 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 231 Though he be unmercifull to us olde men, yet we are..mercifull to him.

1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety viii. 239 There are indeed no such unmerciful exactors as our own Lusts.

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 7 June (1948) I. 290 Why this same Stella is so unmerciful a writer, she has hardly left any room for Dingley.

a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 39 A wight unmercifull.

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 250 Any female..unmerciful to those who had gone astray.

1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. (1879) iv. 64 Of all riders ‘the hard funker’ is the most unmerciful to his beast.

1968 Ebony June 17/1 Yes, an unmerciful human has shot this prince among men who only wanted freedom, love, and peace for his people.

2013 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 9 Dec. 15 He was also unmerciful towards those black allies who had descended to violence, including his own wife Winnie.

b. In extended use, applied to things regarded as cruel or merciless.

ΚΠ

?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth x. f. xiv^v I my selfe the seconde brother skarsly and with great dyfficulte haue escaped his cruell & vnmercyfull hands [L. manus impias].

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. xiii. sig. I4 The vnmercifull Sea depriued me of my company.

a1623 W. Pemble Period Persian Monarchie (1631) xviii. 67 Is not water as unmercifull an element as fire?

1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. 73 When a Lover's hopes Are dead,..Life is unmerciful.

1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild iv. ix, in Misc. III. 346 I dread less being swallowed by the unmerciful Ocean, than being devoured by the Jaws of this Monster.

1825 Friend of India May 7 Retributive justice awarded by irresistible and unmerciful fate.

1902 St. James's Gaz. 31 May 4/1 A murky sky was pouring unmerciful rain on us in Fleet-street.

2001 Terrorizer Sept. 56/3 Aeon unleash an unrelenting and unmerciful blast-assault rife with malevolence and seething with hatred.

2. Of an action or attribute: without mercy; merciless, relentless.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [adjective] > merciless

orelesseOE

sternc1275

fell?c1335

unmerciablea1382

wantona1393

mercilessc1400

unmercifula1425

gracelessc1425

unmercifula1450

unmerciless1545

unsparinga1586

spareless1589

unhuman1611

inclement1621

unmercied1627

a1450 (c1435) J. Lydgate Life SS. Edmund & Fremund (Harl.) l. 479 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 422 (MED) The furious Ire, the vnmerciful vengance Off paynymes swerd cristene blood to sheede.

c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) i. 18 The..distructione of oure nobil barrons..be cruel ande onmercyful slauthyr.

1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 2 Shee bears..that sept vnmerciful hatred.

1621 J. Taylor Unnaturall Father in Wks. (1630) 140/2 Weeping teares of pitilesse pity, and vnmercifull mercy.

1758 S. Johnson Idler 15 July 113 Some stop might be put to this unmerciful persecution.

1778 F. Burney Evelina II. xxx. 263 Her unmerciful propensity to satire.

1846 A. Marsh Father Darcy II. x. 170 He had resolved..upon a course of the most unmerciful policy.

1884 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 11 June 6/3 A most unmerciful cow hiding, or quirting, was administered by one Mexican to another a few days since.

1955 Sci. Amer. Oct. 103/1 Until Maupertuis's death in 1759 Voltaire did not relent in his flood of unmerciful, unscrupulous and myopic ridicule.

1985 L. McMurty Lonesome Dove (1990) xii. 145 He never mentioned the incident to anyone, knowing it would mean unmerciful teasing if it ever got out.

2007 P. Davis Bernard Malamud (2010) ii. 33 He would get Herbie to help him practise his pitching, for hours on end, punishing himself with unmerciful determination.

3. Excessive in amount, size, or degree; immoderate, extreme. Cf. earlier unmercifully adv. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [adjective] > excessive or too great in amount or degree

overmeteeOE

unmeeteOE

unimeteOE

unmethelyOE

over-mickleOE

hoflesc1175

overmucha1300

unskilwisea1340

unskilfulc1370

luxuriousc1374

overseemingc1384

superfluec1384

unreasonablea1387

outrageousc1390

over-greatc1390

overlargec1390

overgrowna1398

unmeasurablea1398

unmoderatea1398

unordinatea1398

immoderate1398

rankc1400

overabundantc1410

excessivea1420

superabundant?a1425

unmeasureda1425

superfluousc1475

nimious?c1500

surfeitc1500

overliberala1535

torc1540

exceeding1548

distemperate1557

over-ranka1568

overswelling1582

accessive1583

overaboundinga1600

overteeming1603

excessful1633

overproportionated1647

superproportioned1652

over-proportioned1662

overproportionate1672

unduea1684

unequal1704

unmerciful1707

hypermetric1854

hypertrophied1879

over the top1980

1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 69 Knock'd down by an unmerciful Bowl of Punch or two.

1748 W. Douglas Cornuter Seventy-five 16 The Don..dresses himself in a short Jacket..with a Toledo of an unmerciful Size by his Side.

1811 A. Clarke Kneeling in Wks. (1837) XI. 340 He prayed forty-eight minutes. I was unwilling to rise, and several times was nigh fainting... In addition to the injury I sustained by his unmerciful prayer, I had the following reproof.

1835 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Acharnians App. 252 Explain them he accordingly does at the same unmerciful length as he does every other topic.

1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) (at cited word) Onmussifle 'ot it is shoo-loy.

1926 Estherville (Iowa) Democrat 26 May A Cadillac 1926 sport model sedan passed them, going at an unmerciful rate of speed.

2006 Sunday Mirror (Eire ed.) (Nexis) 17 Dec. 28 There would be an unmerciful scream after he would press down on the children's gums with his thumbs pushing the teeth through.

B. n.

With the and plural agreement. Unmerciful people (or occasionally animals) considered collectively.Frequently in biblical use, esp. with reference to the Gospel of Matthew or the Epistle of James.

ΚΠ

1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) James ii. (margin) And to the mercifull hath God bounde him selfe to shew mercie And contrary vnto the vnmercifull he threatneth iudgement withoute mercie.

1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia ii. sig. Mii Thou shouldest rather be moued with pitie to see a seely innocent hare murdered of a dogge: the weake of the stronger, the fearefull of the fearce, the innocente of ye cruell and vnmercyfull.

1673 T. Gouge Surest & Safest Way of Thriving 28 As the unmerciful are cursed here, so shall they be cursed hereafter.

1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc i. 445 Will not God In sunder smite the unmerciful, and break The sceptre of the wicked?

1820 H. Murray Hist. Acct. Discov. & Trav. in Asia II. ii. vii. 269 The adulterer is embraced by an image of red hot iron; the unmerciful are bitten by snakes.

1872 Gospeller Jan. 2/1 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ Does this not imply that the unmerciful will not obtain mercy?

1978 R. Girard To Double Business Bound ii. 10 Clamence realizes that mercy, in his hands, was a secret weapon against the unmerciful.

2010 D. M. Carr & C. M. Conway Introd. to Bible xii. 302 The merciful are promised mercy (Matt 5:7), while the unmerciful are condemned to eternal punishment (Matt 18:8).

Compounds

unmerciful Parliament n. [after post-classical Latin parliamentum sine misericordia (a1500 in Knighton)] historical (now rare) the English parliament of 1388, summoned by the Lords Appellants, which condemned to death several courtiers loyal to Richard II; cf. merciless Parliament n. at merciless adj. 1a, marvellous Parliament n. at marvellous adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1700 R. Brady Contin. Compl. Hist. Eng. 391 On the next day this Parlement ended, being Thursday the 4th of June, which, says Knighton, was called the Unmerciful Parlement.

1733 T. Salmon Mod. Hist. XVIII. 33 They repeal'd all the Acts that had been made by that factious unmerciful Parliament in the 11th Year of the King.

1909 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 13 Mar. 16/2 The ‘unmerciful parliament’ of the reign of Richard II was not the only unmerciful assembly of the sort that has been held. We are still having some of them.

Derivatives

† unmercifulhead n. Obsolete lack of mercy, mercilessness.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [noun] > mercilessness

unmercyc1425

unmercifulheadc1450

unmercifulness1534

merciless1584

mercilessness1591

inclemency1598

c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 256 Ryȝtwysnesse may noȝt helpe þe..in þin vnkyndenesse, in þin vnmercyfulhed.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	unmerciful
释义	unmercifuladj.n. Brit. /(ˌ)ʌnˈməːsᵻf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˌənˈmərsəf(ə)l/ Forms: see un- prefix¹ and merciful adj. and n. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: un- prefix¹, merciful adj. Etymology: < un- prefix¹ + merciful adj. A. adj. 1. a. Esp. of a person: not having or exercising mercy; cruel, pitiless. Frequently with to, towards. Cf. earlier unmerciable adj. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [adjective] > merciless orelesseOE sternc1275 fell?c1335 unmerciablea1382 wantona1393 mercilessc1400 unmercifula1425 gracelessc1425 unmercifula1450 unmerciless1545 unsparinga1586 spareless1589 unhuman1611 inclement1621 unmercied1627 a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Jer. l. 42 Thei schulen take bowe and swerd, thei ben cruel and vnmerciful [L. inmisericordes]. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 36 He was alway to hem vnmercyful. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxvi^v The vnmercifull pagans and cruel Turkes. ?1594 H. Constable Diana (new ed.) vii. vii. sig. F2 Seeke with humble prayer, Meanes how to mooue th' vnmercifullest fayre. a1600 (?c1535) tr. H. Boece Hist. Scotl. (1946) ii. v. 86 He grewe in fellony like ane cruell vnmercifull vnbeist. 1631 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 231 Though he be unmercifull to us olde men, yet we are..mercifull to him. 1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety viii. 239 There are indeed no such unmerciful exactors as our own Lusts. 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 7 June (1948) I. 290 Why this same Stella is so unmerciful a writer, she has hardly left any room for Dingley. a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 39 A wight unmercifull. 1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 250 Any female..unmerciful to those who had gone astray. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. (1879) iv. 64 Of all riders ‘the hard funker’ is the most unmerciful to his beast. 1968 Ebony June 17/1 Yes, an unmerciful human has shot this prince among men who only wanted freedom, love, and peace for his people. 2013 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 9 Dec. 15 He was also unmerciful towards those black allies who had descended to violence, including his own wife Winnie. b. In extended use, applied to things regarded as cruel or merciless. ΚΠ ?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth x. f. xiv^v I my selfe the seconde brother skarsly and with great dyfficulte haue escaped his cruell & vnmercyfull hands [L. manus impias]. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. xiii. sig. I4 The vnmercifull Sea depriued me of my company. a1623 W. Pemble Period Persian Monarchie (1631) xviii. 67 Is not water as unmercifull an element as fire? 1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. 73 When a Lover's hopes Are dead,..Life is unmerciful. 1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild iv. ix, in Misc. III. 346 I dread less being swallowed by the unmerciful Ocean, than being devoured by the Jaws of this Monster. 1825 Friend of India May 7 Retributive justice awarded by irresistible and unmerciful fate. 1902 St. James's Gaz. 31 May 4/1 A murky sky was pouring unmerciful rain on us in Fleet-street. 2001 Terrorizer Sept. 56/3 Aeon unleash an unrelenting and unmerciful blast-assault rife with malevolence and seething with hatred. 2. Of an action or attribute: without mercy; merciless, relentless. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [adjective] > merciless orelesseOE sternc1275 fell?c1335 unmerciablea1382 wantona1393 mercilessc1400 unmercifula1425 gracelessc1425 unmercifula1450 unmerciless1545 unsparinga1586 spareless1589 unhuman1611 inclement1621 unmercied1627 a1450 (c1435) J. Lydgate Life SS. Edmund & Fremund (Harl.) l. 479 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 422 (MED) The furious Ire, the vnmerciful vengance Off paynymes swerd cristene blood to sheede. c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) i. 18 The..distructione of oure nobil barrons..be cruel ande onmercyful slauthyr. 1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 2 Shee bears..that sept vnmerciful hatred. 1621 J. Taylor Unnaturall Father in Wks. (1630) 140/2 Weeping teares of pitilesse pity, and vnmercifull mercy. 1758 S. Johnson Idler 15 July 113 Some stop might be put to this unmerciful persecution. 1778 F. Burney Evelina II. xxx. 263 Her unmerciful propensity to satire. 1846 A. Marsh Father Darcy II. x. 170 He had resolved..upon a course of the most unmerciful policy. 1884 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 11 June 6/3 A most unmerciful cow hiding, or quirting, was administered by one Mexican to another a few days since. 1955 Sci. Amer. Oct. 103/1 Until Maupertuis's death in 1759 Voltaire did not relent in his flood of unmerciful, unscrupulous and myopic ridicule. 1985 L. McMurty Lonesome Dove (1990) xii. 145 He never mentioned the incident to anyone, knowing it would mean unmerciful teasing if it ever got out. 2007 P. Davis Bernard Malamud (2010) ii. 33 He would get Herbie to help him practise his pitching, for hours on end, punishing himself with unmerciful determination. 3. Excessive in amount, size, or degree; immoderate, extreme. Cf. earlier unmercifully adv. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [adjective] > excessive or too great in amount or degree overmeteeOE unmeeteOE unimeteOE unmethelyOE over-mickleOE hoflesc1175 overmucha1300 unskilwisea1340 unskilfulc1370 luxuriousc1374 overseemingc1384 superfluec1384 unreasonablea1387 outrageousc1390 over-greatc1390 overlargec1390 overgrowna1398 unmeasurablea1398 unmoderatea1398 unordinatea1398 immoderate1398 rankc1400 overabundantc1410 excessivea1420 superabundant?a1425 unmeasureda1425 superfluousc1475 nimious?c1500 surfeitc1500 overliberala1535 torc1540 exceeding1548 distemperate1557 over-ranka1568 overswelling1582 accessive1583 overaboundinga1600 overteeming1603 excessful1633 overproportionated1647 superproportioned1652 over-proportioned1662 overproportionate1672 unduea1684 unequal1704 unmerciful1707 hypermetric1854 hypertrophied1879 over the top1980 1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 69 Knock'd down by an unmerciful Bowl of Punch or two. 1748 W. Douglas Cornuter Seventy-five 16 The Don..dresses himself in a short Jacket..with a Toledo of an unmerciful Size by his Side. 1811 A. Clarke Kneeling in Wks. (1837) XI. 340 He prayed forty-eight minutes. I was unwilling to rise, and several times was nigh fainting... In addition to the injury I sustained by his unmerciful prayer, I had the following reproof. 1835 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Acharnians App. 252 Explain them he accordingly does at the same unmerciful length as he does every other topic. 1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) (at cited word) Onmussifle 'ot it is shoo-loy. 1926 Estherville (Iowa) Democrat 26 May A Cadillac 1926 sport model sedan passed them, going at an unmerciful rate of speed. 2006 Sunday Mirror (Eire ed.) (Nexis) 17 Dec. 28 There would be an unmerciful scream after he would press down on the children's gums with his thumbs pushing the teeth through. B. n. With the and plural agreement. Unmerciful people (or occasionally animals) considered collectively.Frequently in biblical use, esp. with reference to the Gospel of Matthew or the Epistle of James. ΚΠ 1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) James ii. (margin) And to the mercifull hath God bounde him selfe to shew mercie And contrary vnto the vnmercifull he threatneth iudgement withoute mercie. 1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia ii. sig. Mii Thou shouldest rather be moued with pitie to see a seely innocent hare murdered of a dogge: the weake of the stronger, the fearefull of the fearce, the innocente of ye cruell and vnmercyfull. 1673 T. Gouge Surest & Safest Way of Thriving 28 As the unmerciful are cursed here, so shall they be cursed hereafter. 1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc i. 445 Will not God In sunder smite the unmerciful, and break The sceptre of the wicked? 1820 H. Murray Hist. Acct. Discov. & Trav. in Asia II. ii. vii. 269 The adulterer is embraced by an image of red hot iron; the unmerciful are bitten by snakes. 1872 Gospeller Jan. 2/1 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ Does this not imply that the unmerciful will not obtain mercy? 1978 R. Girard To Double Business Bound ii. 10 Clamence realizes that mercy, in his hands, was a secret weapon against the unmerciful. 2010 D. M. Carr & C. M. Conway Introd. to Bible xii. 302 The merciful are promised mercy (Matt 5:7), while the unmerciful are condemned to eternal punishment (Matt 18:8). Compounds unmerciful Parliament n. [after post-classical Latin parliamentum sine misericordia (a1500 in Knighton)] historical (now rare) the English parliament of 1388, summoned by the Lords Appellants, which condemned to death several courtiers loyal to Richard II; cf. merciless Parliament n. at merciless adj. 1a, marvellous Parliament n. at marvellous adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1700 R. Brady Contin. Compl. Hist. Eng. 391 On the next day this Parlement ended, being Thursday the 4th of June, which, says Knighton, was called the Unmerciful Parlement. 1733 T. Salmon Mod. Hist. XVIII. 33 They repeal'd all the Acts that had been made by that factious unmerciful Parliament in the 11th Year of the King. 1909 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 13 Mar. 16/2 The ‘unmerciful parliament’ of the reign of Richard II was not the only unmerciful assembly of the sort that has been held. We are still having some of them. Derivatives † unmercifulhead n. Obsolete lack of mercy, mercilessness. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [noun] > mercilessness unmercyc1425 unmercifulheadc1450 unmercifulness1534 merciless1584 mercilessness1591 inclemency1598 c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 256 Ryȝtwysnesse may noȝt helpe þe..in þin vnkyndenesse, in þin vnmercyfulhed. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.n.a1425
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