unprovoked

comparative more unprovoked · superlative most unprovoked

1. Happening without provocation.

   an unprovoked attack

   3 more examples

   Near-synonym: unmotivated

   A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019.

   2020 September 9, “Network News: Man jailed for Hillingdon murder”, in Rail, page 25

   Three unprovoked stabbings across Manhattan Monday morning that left two men and one woman dead show how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers, the city’s mayor said.

   2024 November 18, Nic F. Anderson, Melissa Alonso, John Miller, Sabrina Shulman and Sabrina Souza, “3 unprovoked fatal stabbings across Manhattan show failures of criminal justice and mental health systems, city’s mayor says”, in CNN

   Synonyms: unmotivated

comparative more unprovoked · superlative most unprovoked

1. Without provocation or motivation.

   He attacked me, suddenly, unprovoked.

   3 more examples

   'He said, "I won't bugger you"? Really?' 'Yes, really.' 'God. That is a bit suspicious; coming out unprovoked.'

   2011, Mil Millington ·, Love and Other Near Death Experiences

   The supernatural are so destructive that they have to create conditions to enable the continuous infliction of mental and physical injuries on others unprovoked.

   2012, Lord Loveday Ememe, The Supernatural

   So when one of our own flouts our laws to attack my house unprovoked—”

   2015, Mark E. Cooper, Way of the Wolf: Shifter Legacies 1

1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of unprovoke