shunless

comparative more shunless · superlative most shunless

1. literaryThat cannot be shunned; not to be avoided; inevitable, unavoidable.

   [A]lone he entred / The mortall Gate of th'Citie, which he painted / With ſhunleſſe deſtinie: […]

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 11, column 2

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   Th' immortal Parcæ, fatal sisters three, / Of mortal men, do sing the shunless fate: / What once Was, what Is now, and what Shall Be, / Their life, their death, their fortune, and their state.

   1597, R[obert] T[ofte], “Laura. The Toys of a Traveller: Or The Feast of Fancy. […]”, in Edward Arber, compiler, An English Garner: Ingatherings from Our History and Literature, volume VIII, London: Archibald Constable and Co., […], published 1896, →OCLC, part II, stanza XXXIX, page 316

   [T]he many still would cling / To toil and tears—to life and suffering; / And some, whose anguish might not brook to wait / That shunless doom, plunged headlong to their fate: […]

   1853, J. Read, “[Appendix I.] Sketches Taken from Dover Castle during a Storm.”, in William Jerdan, The Autobiography of William Jerdan, […], volume III, London: Arthur Hall, [George] Virtue, & Co., […], →OCLC, section II (The Progress of the Storm), page 354

   They oft / The sway of his red club, the shunless aim / Of his dreadful bow, and wasting tomahawk, / Had felt; […]

   1857, [William Hayne Simmons], Alasco, an Indian Tale: […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co. […], →OCLC, canto the second, page 38

   As for mine own dear life, O king, and thy most kingly head, / I tremble; since this cloud of war stout Hector rolleth o'er us / Dread-darkling; and perdition yawns with shunless gape before us.

   1866, Homer, “Book XVII”, in John Stuart Blackie, transl., Homer and the Iliad, volumes III (The Iliad in English Verse, Books XIII.–XXIV.), Edinburgh: Edmondson and Douglas, →OCLC, page 176

   O, greatest of shame! / O, shunless disgrace! / God's distress! God's distress! / Endless regret! Infinite grief! / The saddest am I among all men!

   1885, Richard Wagner, translated by [anonymous], Die Walküre. (The Valkyr.) First Opera of the Rhinegold Trilogy (The “Ring of the Nibelung” Cyclus), Boston, Mass.: Oliver Ditson Company, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 20, column 2

   Synonyms: unignorable, unshunnable · Antonyms: avoidable, ignorable, shunnable