unwarrantable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ warrantable.

Adjective

unwarrantable (comparative more unwarrantable, superlative most unwarrantable)

Not warrantable; indefensible; not vindicable; not justifiable
Synonyms: illegal, unjust, improper
- 1651, Thomas Fuller, “The Life and Death of Jerom of Prague”, in Abel Redevivus: Or, The Dead Yet Speaking. The Lives and Deaths of the Moderne Divines. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Brudenell for John Stafford, […], →OCLC, page 27:
  [W]hen men doe not iſhue out of a danger by a doore of Gods opening unto them, but breake through the vvall, (as Jerome by perjury) by violent and unvvarrantable vvayes, their minds are daily haunted vvith ſcruples and perplexities, even ſometimes to dolefull diſtraction; beſides, ſuch eſcapes never grovv proſperous, rather eaſing than curing, and the comfort got by them unraueleth againe, as it hapned in Jerome of Prague.
- 1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XV, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, pages 136–137:
  Another thing, that engageth our affections to unwarrantable conclusions, and is therefore fatal to Science; is our doting on Antiquity, and the opinions of our Fathers.
- 1775–1776 (date written), [Thomas Paine], “Of the Present Ability of America, with Some Miscellaneous Reflections”, in Common Sense; […], Philadelphia, Pa.: […] R[obert] Bell, […], published 10 January 1776, →OCLC, page 70:
  [T]he taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce the obedience thereto.
- 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIV, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
  Don't persist, sir! or else I shall be obliged to inform my master of your designs; and he'll take measures to secure his house and its inmates from any such unwarrantable intrusions!
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
  After this unwarrantable invasion, which not only filled every passage, but even intruded upon the space set apart for the Press, it is estimated that nearly five thousand people awaited the arrival of the travelers.

Related terms

Translations

not warrantable

Manx: neuvarrantagh, do-hickyraghey, do-fendeil (action)

References

William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “unwarrantable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
“unwarrantable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.