unpreparedadj.n.
/ˌʌnprᵻˈpɛːd/, U.S. /ˌənprəˈpɛ(ə)rd/ A. adj.† 4. With of. Not provided or equipped with something. Obsolete.
1.
a. Of a person, or a person's faculties: not prepared or ready for something; lacking in preparedness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > unpreparedness > [adjective]
ungraitha1350
undisposedc1380
unreadya1400
dispurveyed14..
unpurveyedc1410
unrayedc1425
unwarnishedc1425
unprovided?a1439
unprepared1528
unprovided for1542
improvided1548
unfurnished1549
unpreparate1575
ungirt1579
disappointed1604
imprompt1760
unaneled1760
unapt1849
flat-footed1912
1528 W. Tyndale That Fayth Mother of All Good Workes f. xxxiii We shuld vnderstonde & knowe, how that tentacions & occasyon of evell come then most, when they are lest loked for: lest we shuld be..vnprepared.
1549 J. Cheke Hurt of Sedicion sig. D7v Although ye thinke your selues able to matche wyth a fewe vnprepared gentlemen, and put them from theyr houses.
?1606 S. Daniel Funerall Poeme Earle of Devonshyre in Wks. (1623) 11 He brauely came to disappoint his foe, And many times surpris'd him vnprepared.
1695 T. Tryon Treat. Dreams & Visions (ed. 2) i. 3 Such discourses seem very..extravagant to their unprepared Apprehensions.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo vi, in Wks. (1721) III. 186 No Danger found them unprepar'd, They kept their Spirits un-ensnar'd.
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 13 We were overtaken by a heavy shower of rain. I was unprepared; but they had each large coats.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV cxxvii. 66 Lest the truth should shine Too brightly on the unprepared mind.
1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 165 His Lordship requested one of the clergymen..to preach the sermon. Naturally they one and all declined, as unprepared.
1920 C. Carswell Open Door! i. vi. 101 She looked so unprepared, so lamentably young.
1958 R. Silverberg Invaders from Earth v. 46 Watsinski liked nothing better than to see a staffman squirm and admit he was unprepared.
2009 Classic Tractor Sept. 113/2 If you're up to your neck in work the last thing you need is an unprepared punter planting more problems in your path.
b. Not prepared for death; spec. unconfessed, unshriven.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > unpreparedness > [adjective] > not prepared for death
unprepared1533
1533 tr. Erasmus Enchiridion Militis Christiani xii. sig. H.i Thou prayest..not rather that he wolde gyue to the a good mynde that in what so euer place dethe shulde come vpon the he shulde not fynde the vnprepared.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. ii. 60 Tis a vile thing to die,..When men are vnprepard. View more context for this quotation
1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Maides Trag. v. sig. K1v Stirre not, if thou doest, Ile take thee vnprepar'd, thy feares vpon thee, That make thy sins looke double.
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. xi. sig. Q1v Upon a Death Bed,..that very Thought might justly prove Dismal to an unprepar'd Man.
1683 I. Walton Chalkhill's Thealma & Clearchus 1215 Death at no time finds goodness unprepared.
1701 S. Brewster Let. to Parishioners recommending Parochial Communion 59 We ought to be ready, lest the Day of Judgment find us unprepared.
1798 R. Southey Joan of Arc (ed. 2) II. x. 232 Hurried the Confessor To shrive them, lest with unprepared souls They to their death might go.
1825 Times 20 Sept. The lives of many unprepared sinners [are] put at hazard of immediate death.
1846 A. Marsh Father Darcy II. xii. 215 The slaughter of hundreds..of human beings totally unprepared.
1906 Pacific Monthly July 52/2 Many unprepared souls, doubtless, went straight to Purgatory.
2002 Mandala Mar. 26/2 We can die at any moment and unprepared can go to lower realms.
c. Not prepared for something; unready to do something.
ΚΠ
1549 J. Cheke Hurt of Sedicion sig. D1 Exceter..being..vnfurnished, vnprepared for so longe a siege.
1618 T. Gainsford True Hist. P. Warbeck 74 As mischeefe and misery are of mine olde acquaintance, so am I not now vnprepared to entertaine the same.
1678 Strange & Remarkable Prophesies J. Usher 8 Look that you be not found unprepared for it.
1722 W. Hamilton Life of Sir William Wallace viii. ii. 186 Wallace..Surpris'd the English, unprepar'd for Fight.
1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 174 That they might not be wholly unprepared to begin their course.
1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose ix, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. IV. 204 Being taken by surprise, they were totally unprepared for resistance.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. xv. 135 I am rather unprepared to see you.
1939 R. P. Warren Night Rider i. 25 He said that he was unprepared to speak.
1978 D. Severance Reach for Sky 143 The Superman syndrome is what leads new pilots to..attempt flights they are unprepared for.
2001 Austral. Financial Rev. 2 Feb. (Review section) 1/5 (heading) The world is woefully unprepared for the age of bioweapons.
2. Designating an event or occurrence for which a person is not prepared; unexpected.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > surprise, unexpectedness > [adjective]
forglopnedc1175
dumb1388
astoniedc1400
unprepared1563
thunderstrickena1586
stonished1595
startled?1611
thunderstruck1613
dump1616
admired1684
dumbfounded1815
capped1862
surprised1882
dumbfoundered1883
staggered1911
1563 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments 1706/1 To these examples also might be added the vnprepared death of D. Geffrey, Chauncellor or Saylsburye.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 561 This vnlook'd for vnprepared pompe. View more context for this quotation
1662 W. Thomas Preservative of Piety i. ii. 24 I do not at all speak to set one Ordinance of God against another; or..to give way to an unprepared coming to the Word.
a1750 A. Hill Insolvent (1758) v. 70 He seeks a living son; He finds a dead one. Unprepar'd event!
1796 F. Burney Camilla V. x. vii. 397 Her sight, thus unprepared..might be too affecting for his weak frame.
1884 H. Ogden Dr. Barringford's School xv. 112 The whole betokened great exposure to the weather, and hard work, and a very hasty and unprepared departure.
1897 B. Camm Benedictine Martyr i. 31 Carried off by sudden and unprepared death before the priest could be summoned.
1971 Child Welfare 50 102/2 Such an event might involve the introduction of new persons into a family situation; the premature or unprepared birth of a child, [etc.].
2008 D. Gray Later Medieval Eng. Lit. ii. 55 St Christopher, the sight of whose image guarded against a bad, unprepared death.
3. Of a thing: not made ready; not modified by preparation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > unpreparedness > [adjective] > not made ready
unreadya1425
unprepared1574
unprimed1622
unset1639
1574 C. Vitell tr. H. Niclaes Publishing of Peace vpon Earth ii. sig. A4v To prepare all vnprepared or vntilled Fieldes, to a mollified Earth.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. xcv. 276 The Apothecaries ought not to sell to any person, of Coriander seede vnprepared.
1602 T. Russel Diacatholicon Aureum i. sig. Bv Common Quicksiluer prepared or vnprepared.
1651 J. French tr. J. R. Glauber Descr. New Philos. Furnaces ii. 65 Even a hard unprepared metal can be consumed in the stomach.
1713 W. Derham Physico-theol. ii. vi. 59 The Cassada-Plant unprepared poisoneth.
1750 T. Short Disc. Tea, Sugar, &c. iii. ii. 174 The firm Union of the gross Oil and Salt makes the unprepared Sugar of almost a loathsome luscious Taste.
1830 S. F. Gray & A. L. Porter Chem. of Arts II. 750 When this colour..is printed on unprepared cloth, and dyed in madder, it becomes a bright purple.
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 376 An ordinary unprepared gun, taken from a number promiscuously.
1940 Brit. Red Cross Soc. Cookery & Catering Man. (ed. 4) iii. 40 Of potatoes, 12 oz. per man, unprepared, will be required.
1987 R. S. Brindle New Music (ed. 2) ix. 81 Improvisation..used to mean an unprepared musical performance.
2000 N.Y. Times 13 Dec. a33/4 The Osprey could not yet carry passengers or hover over unprepared landing zones.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > non-possession > [adjective] > devoid of something > lacking or without > not provided or equipped with something
unbounda1300
unpurveyed?1397
unprovided1513
unprovided1530
unbestoweda1535
improvided1569
dispurveyed1574
unsupplied1599
unaccommodated1608
unprepared1608
disprovided1864
1608 W. Cowper Triumph of Christian xiii. 72 Let Peter bee vnprepared of this presence, and hee will denie Christ.
1697 D. Jones Tragical Hist. Stuarts 74 in Contin. Secret Hist. White-Hall His Enemies were unprepared of all things necessary for a Siege.
1732 J. Louthian Form of Process 45 If the Prisoner, thro' Ignorance, come unprepared of Lawiers.
1793 Gentleman's Mag. June 568/1 One [month] might be too much to leave the country unprepared of a national strength for defence.
5. Music. In traditional counterpoint: designating a discordant interval in which neither note has been anticipated at the same pitch within a preceding concord. Also: designating a key not approached from another key by means of a regular harmonic progression. Cf. prepare v. 8.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > [adjective] > contrary to principles of
inconcinnous1728
unprepared1782
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [adjective] > tonality > change of key
unprepared1782
modulatory1871
1782 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music II. ii. 113 The unprepared 7th..is a crudity that has been but very lately tolerated.
1838 G. F. Graham Ess. Theory & Pract. Musical Composition 23/2 Monteverde began to introduce unprepared sevenths and ninths.
1865 Musical World 8 Apr. 212/2 [He] has written monstrous things, for instance about Beethoven's symphonies, when he has been looking out unprepared intervals, &c.
1925 Proc. Musical Assoc. 60 He would blue-pencil an unprepared chord of the seventh in a motet in the style of Palestrina.
1996 D. Stein & R. Spillman Poetry into Song vii. 148 That P8 helps to emphasize the half cadence that clarifies the unprepared key of c minor.
B. n.
With plural agreement. With the. Unprepared people considered collectively or as a type.
ΚΠ
1582 in Bible (Rheims) (1 Thess. v) 551 To prepare our selues against that time so sodaine and so terrible to the vnprepared.
a1643 S. Godolphin Poems (1931) 25 The unprepar'd this grace doe Finde Yee coole and doe refresh the Mynde.
1675 R. Baxter Catholick Theol. ii. ii. 39 God may give special Grace to the unprepared on a sudden.
1733 T. Allen Christian's Sure Guide to Eternal Glory 161 Though it be several years expected..yet to the unprepared, it shall come as the breaking in of many waters, and destroy them all.
1791 Abstr. of Evid. Select Comm.: Petitioners for Abol. Slave-trade (House of Commons) i. 3 The general pillage is executed by the king's troops on horseback, armed, who seize the unprepared.
1841 E. S. Wortley Maiden of Moscow 27 To think of..all the unpardon'd—the unprepared—That desperately their doom have dared.
1888 19th Cent. Jan. 64 Periods of war are sure to come on, in which the unprepared will be beaten by those who are well armed.
1949 E. Goudge Gentian Hill iii. i. 291 The unprepared were apt to recoil when her gimlet eyes bored into them.
1989 S. Sontag Aids & Metaphors v. 53 The unprepared are taken by surprise.
1991 M. Lindvall Good News from N. Haven 116 This was but a hint of what was to come for the unprepared.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1528