untimely

C2+ Topic:Time

US /ʌnˈtaɪmli/ UK /ʌnˈtaɪmli/ See IPA manual

adj adv

Meanings

1

adj
happening at an unsuitable time; premature

His untimely death shocked the whole community.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · happening at an unsuitable... prematureill-timedinopportune unseasonable inconvenient unfortunate

Opposites

timely opportune seasonable

Word family

Derived forms untimeliness

Related forms timely time

Etymology

From un- ('not') plus timely, from Old English tīmlīc ('temporal, seasonable'), from tīma ('time').

un- Old English tīma Old English

View etymology graph ->

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Time Word Formation & Derivatives

# untimely

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, adv
**IPA (US):** ʌnˈtaɪmli
**IPA (UK):** ʌnˈtaɪmli

## Meanings
1. happening at an unsuitable time; premature

## Examples
- His untimely death shocked the whole community.

## Synonyms
- premature
- ill-timed
- inopportune
- unseasonable
- inconvenient
- unfortunate

## Antonyms
- timely
- opportune
- seasonable

## Derived Forms
- untimeliness

## Related Forms
- timely
- time

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: un-
- Root: tīma

## Etymology
From un- ('not') plus timely, from Old English tīmlīc ('temporal, seasonable'), from tīma ('time').

## AI Etymology
Untimely comes from un- ('not') plus timely, from Old English tīmlīc ('temporal, seasonable'), from tīma ('time'). The historical chain includes Old English un- and Old English tīma. The quoted older senses, "not", "temporal, seasonable", and "time", supply the semantic anchors for untimely. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word untimely carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "happening at an unsuitable time; premature". English derivatives include untimeliness; related English forms include timely and time. The result is a adj and adv whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Time
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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