unsettlementn.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈsɛtlm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˌənˈsɛd(ə)lmənt/ 1. The act or process of unsettling.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > [noun] > act or process of unsettling (opinion, etc.)
unsettlement1648
staggeringa1661
1648 T. Fairfax Remonstrance 8 To entertain motions tending to the unsettlement of what you had resolved.
1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions p. iv Whoever attempts the settlement of any Question, which would be the unsettlement of any mens Interest [etc.].
1844 Ld. Brougham Albert Lunel III. xiv. 106 The universal unsettlement of all received ideas, and ancient opinions.
1862 A. Trollope N. Amer. I. 221 Delay in travelling..causes the unsettlement of a settled purpose.
2. Unsettled state or condition.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > unruliness > political unrest > [noun]
stirringa1154
motiona1387
troublec1435
misrule1442
commotion1471
stir1487
misgovernment1565
welteringa1586
confusions1599
distemper1605
distemperature?1606
convulsion1643
unsettlement1649
upturning1846
upturn1864
the natives are restless1950
1649 R. Baxter Saints Everlasting Rest (new ed.) iv. i. §4 They have..lived in much trouble and unsettlement, and have just overcome them.
1655 in E. Nicholas Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 281 The yet great vnsetlement in England.
1681 J. Child Treat. E.-India Trade 10 Our Neighbours are not now at leasure..to make their Advantage of our Unsettlement, during the Transition from one Stock to another.
1867 H. W. Wilberforce in Ess. Relig. & Lit. II. 342 A general spirit of unsettlement and presumption.
1875 E. White Life in Christ xxviii. v. 492 A not uncommon feeling is that..‘the faith’ is of such a quality that reasoning upon it..is likely to lead to unsettlement.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1648