unremunerativeadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnrᵻˈmjuːn(ə)rətɪv/, U.S. /ˌənrəˈmjunərədɪv/, /ˌənrəˈmjunəˌreɪdɪv/ Not remunerative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [adjective] > profitable > not profitable or interest-bearing
dead1571
unprofitable1579
passive1606
rentless1648
unlucrative1762
unremunerating1822
unremunerative1827
unpayable1862
uneconomic1899
1827 Evans & Ruffy's Farmer's Jrnl. 3 Dec. 386/1 Our production has been not only unremunerative, but unsaleable.
1851 W. Scoresby My Father v. 183 The whale-fishery of the Greenland seas proved so utterly unremunerative, as to be all but abandoned as a distinct commercial enterprise.
1932 ‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic xix. 238 Kidnapping Frenchmen is simply too unremunerative for words, whereas we're a perfect gold mine.
1997 D. Johnson Le Divorce 6 I have always slightly resented the way our parents have encouraged her in this frivolous, totally unremunerative occupation.
Derivatives
unreˈmuneratively adv.
ΚΠ
1839 Analyt. Index Rep. Commissioners Munic. Corporations 118 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 402) XVIII. 1 [Index of costs in actions in civil courts] Devizes. In record court; unremuneratively small.
1852 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 20 Jan. The company..had expended immense sums unremuneratively on that great undertaking.
2000 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 13 May h7 Educated people who could be teaching school..are instead spending their days unremuneratively banging away at a keyboard.
unreˈmunerativeness n.
ΚΠ
1853 Bradford Observer 28 July 5/1 The backwardness of manufacturers is increased by the unremunerativeness of that department separately from spinning.
1916 M. Gray World-mender ii. vii. 182 It's not the unremunerativeness, it's the lavish expenditure I quarrel with just now.
1995 V. V. Sugunan Reservoir Fisheries of India v. 204 On account of the unremunerativeness of fishing operations, fishermen cannot afford to own a boat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1827