unserviceable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ serviceable.

Adjective

unserviceable (not comparable)

1. Unusable; of no use.
   • 1591, Walter Raleigh, A Report of the Truth of the Fight about the Iles of Açores, this last Sommer betwixt the Reuenge, one of her Maiesties Shippes, and an Armada of the King of Spaine, London: William Ponsonbie; Riverside Press, 1902,^[1]

     And that which was most to our disaduantage, the one halfe part of the men of euerie shippe sicke, and vtterly vnseruiceable.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     First Soldier. [Reads] ‘First demand of him how many horse the duke is strong.’ What say you to that? / Parolles. Five or six thousand; but very weak and unserviceable: […]

   • 1607, Thomas Dekker, “The Whore of Babylon. […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume II, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 216:

     The moſt in ſoule deiected; the moſt baſe, / And moſt vnſeruiceable weede, vnles / You by your heauenly Influence change his vilenes / Into a vertuall habit fit for vſe.

   • 1696, John Selden, “Humility”, in Table-Talk‎^[2], London: Jacob Tonson, page 68:

     […] if a Man hath too mean an Opinion of himself, ’twill render him unserviceable both to God and Man.

   • 1846 February, Henry Melville, chapter XIX, in Typee […] : A Peep at Polynesian Life, London: John Murray, page 162:

     […] things unserviceable in one way, may with advantage be applied in another, that is, if one have genius enough for the purpose.

   • 1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, chapter XXXIII, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), →OCLC:

     […] I expect she’ll ruin that dress driving over there in the dust and dew with it, and it looks most too thin for these damp nights. Organdy’s the most unserviceable stuff in the world anyhow, and I told Matthew so when he got it.

   • 2020 April 22, “Network News: Battery-powered shunter ready to begin testing”, in Rail, page 20:

     The '08' was acquired from Gemini Rail Services. It was heavily corroded, unserviceable due to a damaged crankshaft, and had been used to donate spares to other '08s'.

   Synonym: u/s

2. Of machinery, etc.: not working.
   • 1937 January 25, “Hornlessness”, in Time:

     During 1936, revealed Pravda, the Gorky plant set itself the task of turning out 12,000 cars. The actual output was 2,500. In one day 24 of 47 cars turned out were tagged “unserviceable.”

   • 1957, Neville Shute, chapter 3, in On the Beach‎^[3], New York: William Morrow & Co.:

     [The war] just didn’t stop, till all the bombs were gone and all the aircraft were unserviceable.

3. Impractical.