unsuitableadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈsuːtəbl/, /(ˌ)ʌnˈsjuːtəbl/, U.S. /ˌənˈsudəb(ə)l/ a. (un- prefix1 1b.)
ΚΠ
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xxxviii. 76 Wanton or light or vnsuteable harmonie, such as only pleaseth the eare.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 154 Virginitie like an olde Courtier, weares her cap out of fashion, richly suted, but vnsuteable. View more context for this quotation
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. i. iii. sig. M4v I make him but very unsuitable Returns for the Blessings..I have receiv'd.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 132 Hard recompence, unsutable return For so much good, so much beneficence. View more context for this quotation
1831 G. P. R. James Philip Augustus II. iv. 93 At so unsuitable an hour.
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 346 The expression..would hardly appear unsuitable.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 216 He thought..him not wholly unsuitable as a companion.
b. Const. to or for.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > disharmony or incongruity > unsuitability or inappropriateness > [adjective]
unkinOE
un-i-feieOE
unbecomelyc1200
amissc1325
wrongousa1350
uncovenablec1374
unsitting1390
undue1398
ungainanda1400
unquemea1400
inconvenientc1400
unlikelyc1405
disconvenienta1425
impertinenta1425
discovenablec1436
unmeetc1440
wrongc1440
unjustc1443
unbehovablec1450
inconvenientc1460
uncordial1488
unmeetly1534
unapt1539
unfit1548
incommodious1553
ungreeing1560
impertinent1565
stravagant1565
unproper1566
improper1570
unhovable1570
unapt1579
unbeseeming1583
unsuitablea1586
unappliable1588
unapt1588
unlikely1590
unfittinga1592
unfitted1592
unsuiting1596
unbefitting1598
unsorted1598
unsuited1598
contrary1600
impair1609
unfitty1613
incompetible1621
incongruous1623
infita1626
uncompetiblea1628
inaccommodatea1657
inapplicable1656
inconcinnate1657
inconcinnous1662
inept1675
unaccommodatea1676
incommode1678
indecorous1681
untoward1682
unapplicable1690
insuitable1692
unsuit1704
malapropos1709
inapt1744
out of place1748
uncongenial1788
unfit-like1796
ungain-like1796
inappropriate1804
unadapted1805
dissuitable1807
dissuited1819
ineligible1828
infelicitous1835
unapropos1840
butt-ended1850
malappropriate1851
ungenial1871
misappropriate1878
unbecoming1893
unappropriate1898
unadjusted1899
offside1910
off-key1943
improbable1958
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xxiii. sig. Xx1 An vnkinde answere,..but not vnsutable to the rest of your behauiour.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. v. 195 Hee will smile vpon her, which will now be so vnsuteable to her disposition,..that [etc.] . View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xlii. 293 Their ordinary maintenance was not unsuitable to their employment.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 125 If our devotion be overstrained it becomes unsuitable for practice.
1780 Mirror No. 94 A train of thinking..neither unpleasing nor unsuitable to the character of a rational being.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 382 Never did so wise a man adopt means so unsuitable to his end.
1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight ix. 131 Ground-glass globes are condemned..as unsuitable for school purposes.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.a1586