unprivilegedadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈprɪv(ᵻ)lɪdʒd/, /(ˌ)ʌnˈprɪvl̩ɪdʒd/, U.S. /ˌənˈprɪv(ə)lɪdʒd/ 1. Not benefiting from special privileges or rights; not given special status; not protected or sanctioned, esp. by rule or law.
a. Of a thing.In quot. 1827: (of a letter, etc.) subject to postal charges (now hist).
ΚΠ
1532 in Facsimiles National MSS Scotl. (1871) III. xx That the priuilegit summondis of euery quarter salbe tablit with the vnpriuilegit quhill that diett or quarter be endit.
1590 H. Swinburne Briefe Treat. Test. & Willes iv. f. 112 Such disposition..maie be lawfullie and properlie said to be a testament, whether the same be..priuiledged or vnpriuiledged.
1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xxvi. 121 They took the fields one amongst another, wasting, spoiling, destroying.., not sparing poor nor rich, priviledged nor unpriviledged places.
1752 W. Douglass Summary First Planting Brit. Settlem. N.-Amer. II. ix. 41 In New-England there being no County Representatives, these unprivileged Districts are not represented.
1827 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1971) VI. 706 There be nothing to communicate of sufficient urgence to levy on you the tax of ten pence for an unprivileged letter.
1887 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 207 The clergy of a state Church enjoy many advantages over those of unprivileged and unendowed religious persuasions.
1949 Life 19 Sept. 137/2 The Church is stabilized as a minority..subject to both the advantages and disadvantages of an unprivileged position.
1992 Police Chief Feb. 24/3 Any use of force..would be per se unreasonable, excessive and unprivileged under state or federal authority.
b. Of a person or class of people.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > dueness or propriety > moral impropriety > [adjective] > not having certain privileges
unprivileged1592
1592 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) vii. xxxiiii. 149 But of vnpriuiledged bloud yet had he store to spill.
1633 E. Kellett Misc. Divinitie ii. ix. 62 We the now unpriviledged Clergie, do humbly pray to God to uphold our declining estates from the hands of those Atheists.
a1687 C. Cotton Poems (1689) 315 And who can now expect to live, when he, Thus fell unpriviledg'd we see!
1702 N. Rowe Tamerlane i. i. 100 The Boast and Master-piece of the great Maker, That wears in vain th' Impression of his Image Unpriviledged from thee [sc. war].
1791 J. Mackintosh Vindiciæ Gallicæ 255 They [sc. the nobility] are a small body, united to the mass.., and returning to it, undistinguished and unprivileged, the majority of their children.
1818 H. Hallam View Europe Middle Ages I. iii. 314 The arrangement..had still left several kinds of artisans unincorporated, and consequently unprivileged.
1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur vi. ii. 406 To dwell with none but lepers; to be utterly unprivileged.
1919 T. W. Overlach Foreign Financial Control China i. 2 The Hong was responsible to the government..for the customs duties on the whole trade, including that of outside or unprivileged merchants.
2011 A. M. Van Engeland Civilian or Combatant? iv. 118 There is no grey zone in international humanitarian law, and people who are caught in between become unprivileged combatants.
2. Lacking the advantages conferred by wealth, education, etc.; socially disadvantaged. Cf. underprivileged adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [adjective] > poor > deprived or underprivileged
underprivileged1896
unprivileged1913
deprived1945
1913 Crisis Aug. 128/2 The problems of the unprivileged classes exist in all nations... These are the people who live just below the poverty line; they furnish the paupers and the criminals of all nations.
1931 Times 18 Dec. 8/7 (advt.) The Fairbridge Farm School at Pinjarra, Western Australia, is a scheme of regeneration for unprivileged children from British slums.
2013 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 7 May (Business section) 2 He came from an unprivileged background and has risen right to the top by his own ability.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1532