Untimely
[ʌn'taɪmlɪ] or [ʌn'taɪmli]
Definition
(a.) Not timely; done or happening at an unnatural, unusual, or improper time; unseasonable; premature; inopportune; as, untimely frosts; untimely remarks; an untimely death.
(adv.) Out of the natural or usual time; inopportunely; prematurely; unseasonably.
Checked by Gerald
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Ill-timed, unseasonable, mistimed, inopportune, premature, out of season.
ad. Unseasonably, unsuitably, MALAPROPOS, at an unsuitable time.
Edited by Guthrie
Definition
adj. not timely: before the time premature: unseasonable ill-timed.—adv. (Shak.) before the time: prematurely unseasonably.—n. Untime′liness.—adj. Untime′ous untimely unseasonable.—adv. Untime′ously.
Editor: Lou
Examples
- No implicated man or woman took untimely courage, or made a self-betraying step. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Olly, though without the tact to perceive when remarks were untimely, was saved by her very simplicity from rendering them offensive. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- This reflection does not, however, abate in the slightest our sense of bereavement in the untimely loss of so good and great a man as Abraham Lincoln. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- What made him seek this quarter of the house at an untimely season, when he should have been asleep in bed? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- He was prevented, by an untimely end, from bringing his invention to any degree of perfection. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Peace, and move on, said Cedric, his anger at this untimely jest being checked by the recollection of Wamba's recent services. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- When I remembered where I was at that untimely hour, a feeling stole upon me that made me get up, afraid of I don't know what, and walk about. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- He seemed the favourite child of fortune, and his untimely loss eclipsed the world, and shewed forth the remnant of mankind with diminished lustre. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I deplored the untimely death of Mr. Spenlow, most sincerely, and shed tears in doing so. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out of bed at the untimely hour of six. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Margaret, what comment can I make on the untimely extinction of this glorious spirit? Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Was he the only passenger who came on board at that untimely hour? Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- A gathering call ran among the faculties, their bugles sang, their trumpets rang an untimely summons. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Editor: Lou