unqualifiedadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈkwɒlᵻfʌɪd/, /(ˌ)ʌŋˈkwɒlᵻfʌɪd/, U.S. /ˌənˈkwɑləˌfaɪd/, /ˌənˈkwɔləˌfaɪd/ 1.
a. Lacking the qualities, attributes, or accomplishments required to be or do something; not having the necessary qualifications.
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the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [adjective] > unable or unapt > unfit or unqualified
indisposedc1449
unabled1497
unhabile1539
unqualified1556
inabilitate1577
incapable1651
inhabile1727
1556 W. Lauder Compend. Tractate Dewtie of Kyngis sig. B4v Quhow God, sall ȝow correct Geue ȝe vnqualifeit hirds Elect.
1631 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 73 Allen, being a Vicar in Sudbury and beneficed and unqualifyed, accepted of another living.
1673 S'too him Bayes 22 The bishop would not have unqualify'd people read the scriptures.
1713 C. Place Heretical Char. ii. 185 Such babish and unqualified Christians as were not prepared worthily to apprehend and digest it [sc. the Lord's Supper].
a1780 J. Harris Philol. Inq. (1781) i. iv. 27 As Translators are infinite, and many of them (to borrow a phrase from Sportsmen) unqualified Persons.
1839 Morning Chron. 29 June 4/4 The unqualified lawyer tampers with property..and the unqualified cabinet-maker tampers with good mahogany; while the unqualified schoolmaster only tampers with the human mind and heart.
1891 E. Kinglake Austral. at Home 46 It is no use sueing a quack... Why did you employ him? You know he is unqualified.
1953 J. P. Harris Advice & Consent of Senate v. 70 The man previously appointed was without character and wholly unqualified.
2010 New Yorker 8 Nov. 32/1 They've foreclosed on homes without having the proper documentation, and relied on unqualified people to sign affidavits attesting to things they didn't know.
b. With for, or to and infinitive.
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1614 T. Jackson Third Bk. Comm. Apostles Creede iii. viii. 173 For in men inwardly ill affected or vnqualified, for true faith, credulity comes neere the nature of vice then vertue.
1689 S. Johnson Remarks Dr. Sherlock's Bk. 41 A Person may be unqualified by Law, to execute a Commission.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. v. 81 Capable of naturally becoming qualified for States of Life, for which they were once wholly unqualified.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1787) II. xviii. 109 Dominions which they were unqualified to govern.
1847 G. Harris Life Ld. Hardwicke I. 504 A minister..unqualified for his situation.
1879 Musical Times 1 Mar. 163/1 I think it is entirely the fault of the parents of pupils that music-masters who are totally unqualified to teach are enabled to do so.
1921 L. R. Harford & A. E. Bell Hist. Women's Missionary Assoc. 8 She felt unqualified for this work.
2012 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 18 Dec. 3 A woman died after a police officer, unqualified to drive over the speed limit..collided with her at high speed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adjective] > not specific > not rendered specific > not characterized or nondescript
unqualified1603
equivocal1658
uncharacterized1701
neutral1755
nondescript1806
anonymous1937
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1108 For no man taketh or imagineth that to be..unqualified, which is participant of al qualities and uncapable of none.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 220 If he neither derived them from..Unqualified Matter..nor yet from..an Irrational and Maleficent Soul.
1700 E. Howard Remarks New Philos. Des-Cartes iv. 247 Such Chimerical Materials, or unqualified Particles of Nature, as he numbers in the actings of his devis'd Triplicity of Elements.
1791 W. Anderson Philos. Anc. Greece iii. ii. 129 The theory..supposed qualities of bodies to be produced from atoms unqualified.
3. Not modified or moderated; not subject to qualification or reservation; unmitigated; (hence) absolute, thoroughgoing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > [adjective] > of persons, statements, or actions: not limited
veryc1405
unqualified1658
1658 W. Parker Revindication 230 Paul did not account..his righteousness out of the law loss and dung through the faith of Jesus absolutely in it self, but as it was unqualified with his faith in Christ.
1739 H. Coventry Lett. Philemon to Hydaspes iii. 66 An Image, which must have pleaded so strongly with our Egyptian Ruralists for a direct and unqualified Adoration of the solar Orb.
1783 T. Paine Let. to Earl Shelburne 25 To say..that the sun of Great Britain will be set whenever she acknowledges the Independence of America, when the not doing it is the unqualified lie of Government, can be no other than the language of ridicule.
1836 J. Grant Random Recoll. House of Lords ix. 192 He was always the unqualified denouncer of State prosecutions of the press.
1855 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Philip II of Spain I. i. viii. 280 His ardor did not precipitate him into any unqualified declaration of his passion.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 7 The unsparing and unqualified denunciations of Tyre and Sidon..in Joel and Amos.
1914 T. S. Eliot Let. 14 Oct. (1988) I. 61 I suppose that everyone will want to know how I like Oxford, and of course I shall be quite unable to give an unqualified answer one way or another.
1941 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 22 Jan. 229 Airwomen had made an unqualified success of every trade in which they had taken the place of airmen.
2011 T. Ronald Becoming Nancy (2012) xv. 202 With only a few weeks to go, the show, I feel, is a complete and unqualified shambles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1556