unprovoked

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ provoked.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌnpɹəˈvoʊkt/
• Hyphenation: un‧pro‧voked

Adjective

unprovoked (comparative more unprovoked, superlative most unprovoked)

1. Happening without provocation.

   Hypernyms: unprompted, unstimulated; unjustified, unjustifiable

   Near-synonym: unmotivated

   an unprovoked attack

   • 2020 September 9, “Network News: Man jailed for Hillingdon murder”, in Rail, page 25:

     A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019.

Translations

without provocation

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: несправакаваны (njespravakavany)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無緣無故的／无缘无故的 (wúyuánwúgù de)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
•  Finnish: provosoimaton
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: unprovoziert
• Greek: απρόκλητος (el) (apróklitos)
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: illacessītus
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: bezpodstawny (pl)
• Romanian: neprovocat
• Russian: неспровоци́рованный (ru) (nesprovocírovannyj)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: неспровоко́ваний (nesprovokóvanyj)

Adverb

unprovoked (comparative more unprovoked, superlative most unprovoked)

1. Without provocation or motivation.

   He attacked me, suddenly, unprovoked.

   • 2011, Mil Millington ·, Love and Other Near Death Experiences:

     'He said, "I won't bugger you"? Really?' 'Yes, really.' 'God. That is a bit suspicious; coming out unprovoked.'

   • 2012, Lord Loveday Ememe, The Supernatural:

     The supernatural are so destructive that they have to create conditions to enable the continuous infliction of mental and physical injuries on others unprovoked.

   • 2015, Mark E. Cooper, Way of the Wolf: Shifter Legacies 1:

     So when one of our own flouts our laws to attack my house unprovoked—”

Translations

without provocation

•  Chinese:

   Mandarin: 無緣無故／无缘无故 (zh) (wúyuánwúgù)

•  Finnish: provosoimaton
•  French: please add this translation if you can

Verb

unprovoked

1. simple past and past participle of unprovoke

References

• “unprovoked”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.