Meanings
comparative more unmeritable · superlative most unmeritable
- Not meritable; undeserving of reward.
This is a ſlight vnmeritable man, / Meet to be ſent on Errands : is it fit / The three-fold VVorld diuided, he ſhould ſtand / One of the three to ſhare it?
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 123, column 22 more examples
The effect of this conſideration ought to be, […] that you give God moſt hearty and ſuperexalted thanks, vvith all the tranſports and raviſhments of ſpirit, for ſo unſpeakable, ſo unmeritable, ſo unrevvardable a loving kindneſs.
1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Our Comportment in and after Our Receiving the Blessed Sacrament. Sect[ion] I. Of the Circumstances and Manner of Reception of the Divine Mysteries.”, in The Worthy Communicant or A Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings Consequent to the Worthy Receiving of the Lords Supper […], London: […] R. Norton for John Martyn, James Allestry, and Thomas Dicas […], published 1661, →OCLC, pages 539–540[A]nd Wordsworth, it may be confessed, was liable to failure […] with a result sometimes merely trivial and unmeritable, sometimes actually repulsive or oppressive.
1884 May 28, “Wordsworth and Byron”, in James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century, volume XV, page 780
Origin
Cite this entry
unmeritable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmeritable
“unmeritable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmeritable. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unmeritable,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmeritable.
Source: unmeritable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.