Meanings
- uncountableThe quality of being unforgiving.
And yet I frankly must confess A secret unforgivingness, And shudder at the saving chrism Whose best New Birth is Pessimism;
1888, James Russell Lowell, “Credidimus Jovem Regnare”, in Heartsease and Rue, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co, page 1853 more examples
But now they are sufficiently cleared from every imputation of unforgivingness; for, while I appeared to them in the character of a vile hypocrite, pretending to true penitence, yet giving up myself to profligate courses, how could I expect either their pardon or blessing?
1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLCShe knew not how such an offence as hers might be classed by the laws of worldly politeness, to what a degree of unforgivingness it might with propriety lead, nor to what rigours of rudeness in return it might justly make her amenable.
1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLCThey had spent their entire lives as prisoners in Siberia and they now appealed to the empress for their release. In a rare instance of unforgivingness Elizabeth refused to grant it.
1970, Tamara Talbot Rice, Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, Praeger, page 105
Origin
Translations
Polish bezpardonowość
- bezpardonowośćTranslations
Cite this entry
unforgivingness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unforgivingness
“unforgivingness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unforgivingness. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unforgivingness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unforgivingness.
Source: unforgivingness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.