intempestivity

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UK/ɪntɛmpɛˈstɪvɪti/

noun

Unseasonability; untimeliness.

Opposite
Scrabble 24

Meanings

nounintempestivity (uncountable)
  1. uncountableUnseasonability; untimeliness.

    I do not know if he wrote his own script, but whoever did, his subsequent pep talk was a masterpiece of intempestivity.

    1974, Michael Pertwee, Name Dropping: The Autobiography of Michael Pertwee, Frewin, →ISBN, page 71
    5 more examples

    This “untimeliness” has nothing to do with the “intempestivity” of Nietzsche, which implies a denial of the present and an affirmation of future values.

    1957, Renato Poggioli, The Phoenix and the Spider: A Book of Essays About Some Russian Writers and Their View of the Self, Harvard University Press, page 191

    “O dear Schultz, here we go again. Same old headline. Sperm Productions, that innocent company dragged yet again into another Schultz intempestivity. With Gayboy already in a state. Raging that the show is giving the theatre such a bad name that it could ruin business for years to come. And dear me this little news item will promptly blow his hemorrhoids clean out of his backside. Forgive me Rebecca.”

    1979, James Patrick Donleavy, Schultz, Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, →ISBN, page 329

    [... I]n general, there has been insufficient realization of the intempestivity of much theoretical debate within the discipline.

    1989, William Outhwaite, “Philosophy and Social Science: Towards Reconciliation?”, in The Polish Sociological Bulletin, number 87/88, Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne, page 49

    Any talk about the moment suggests that it really is the right moment to talk about the right moment, that its time has come — and explicit claims to untimeliness or intempestivity are, one might suspect, no more than a further twist of this structure.

    2001, Heidrun Friese, The Moment: Time and Rupture in Modern Thought, Liverpool University Press, →ISBN, page 18

    d) Gradualism. The system should avoid certain inherent distortions to the generated processes of centralized structure, such as ritualism, intempestivity, bureaucracy, imposition of norms, etc.

    2002, Odorico Monteiro de Andrade, Management of the Brazilian Health System, CONASEMS, →ISBN, page 150

    Synonyms: unseasonableness

Synonyms & antonyms

nounUnseasonability; untimeliness.

Opposite

Origin

  1. Latinintempestīvitās
  2. Englishintempestivity

From the Latin intempestīvitās; cognate with the French intempestivité.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan intempestivitat
  • intempestivitatunseasonability; untimeliness
Chinese Mandarin 不合時宜 /不合时宜
  • 不合時宜 /不合时宜 (bùhéshíyí)unseasonability; untimeliness
Dutch intempestiviteit
  • intempestiviteitunseasonability; untimeliness
Finnish anakronistisuus
  • anakronistisuusunseasonability; untimeliness
French intempestivité
  • intempestivitéunseasonability; untimeliness
Hungarian időszerűtlenség
  • időszerűtlenségunseasonability; untimeliness
Russian несвоевременность
  • несвоевременность (nesvojevremennostʹ)unseasonability; untimeliness
Spanish intempestividad
  • intempestividadunseasonability; untimeliness
Turkish zamansızlık
  • zamansızlıkunseasonability; untimeliness
Welsh annhymmoreiddrwydd, annhymmoroldeb
  • annhymmoreiddrwyddunseasonability; untimeliness
  • annhymmoroldebunseasonability; untimeliness
  • anmhrydlonrwyddunseasonability; untimeliness
Cite this entry
APA

intempestivity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intempestivity

MLA

“intempestivity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intempestivity. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “intempestivity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intempestivity.

Source: intempestivity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.