untimely C2+ Topic:Time US /ʌnˈtaɪmli/ UK /ʌnˈtaɪmli/ See IPA manual 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-timedinopportuneunseasonableinconvenientunfortunate ↔ Opposites timelyopportuneseasonable Word family Derived forms untimeliness Related forms timelytime Etymology AI details From un- ('not') plus timely, from Old English tīmlīc ('temporal, seasonable'), from tīma ('time'). un- Old English tīma Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Time Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # untimely **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **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 markdown