unwarrantable

comparative more unwarrantable · superlative most unwarrantable

1. Not warrantable; indefensible; not vindicable; not justifiable

   Another thing, that engageth our affections to unwarrantable conclusions, and is therefore fatal to Science; is our doting on Antiquity, and the opinions of our Fathers.

   1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XV, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, pages 136–137

   5 more examples

   [W]hen men doe not iſhue out of a danger by a doore of Gods opening unto them, but breake through the vvall, (as Jerome by perjury) by violent and unvvarrantable vvayes, their minds are daily haunted vvith ſcruples and perplexities, even ſometimes to dolefull diſtraction; beſides, ſuch eſcapes never grovv proſperous, rather eaſing than curing, and the comfort got by them unraueleth againe, as it hapned in Jerome of Prague.

   1651, Thomas Fuller, “The Life and Death of Jerom of Prague”, in Abel Redevivus: Or, The Dead Yet Speaking. The Lives and Deaths of the Moderne Divines. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Brudenell for John Stafford, […], →OCLC, page 27

   [T]he taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce the obedience thereto.

   1775–1776 (date written), [Thomas Paine], “Of the Present Ability of America, with Some Miscellaneous Reflections”, in Common Sense; […], Philadelphia, Pa.: […] R[obert] Bell, […], published 10 January 1776, →OCLC, page 70

   Don't persist, sir! or else I shall be obliged to inform my master of your designs; and he'll take measures to secure his house and its inmates from any such unwarrantable intrusions!

   1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIV, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC

   Still, looking round me again, and seeing no possible chance of spending a sufferable night unless in some other person’s bed, I began to think that after all I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this unknown harpooneer. Thinks I, I’ll wait awhile; he must be dropping in before long. I’ll have a good look at him then, and perhaps we may become jolly good bedfellows after all—there’s no telling.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

   After this unwarrantable invasion, which not only filled every passage, but even intruded upon the space set apart for the Press, it is estimated that nearly five thousand people awaited the arrival of the travelers.

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   Synonyms: illegal, unjust, improper