Untimely Meaning
/ʌnˈtaɪmli/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjAt an inopportune time.
adjEarly; premature.
Sentence Examples
Those loved by many are liable to untimely death.
There is no such thing as an untimely erection.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The actor's ____ death deeply shocked his fans and the entire film industry.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The sudden and ____ death of the famous actor saddened many millions of fans around the entire world today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English untymely (also earlier untimliche), equivalent to un- + timely. First attested in the early 13th century. Compare Middle Danish utimelig, Old English untídlic (“unreasonable”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The heroes of literary as well as civil history have been very often no less remarkable for what they have suffered, than for what they have atchieved^([sic]); and volumes have been written only to enumerate the miseries of the learned, and relate their unhappy lives, and untimely deaths."
— c. 1779–81, Samuel Johnson, “Savage”, in The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, volume 3, published 1794:
"Untimely blossom! Poor, impatient thing, / That, starting rashly from the sheltering mould, / Bravest the peevish wind and sullen cold, / Mistaking thine own ardors for the spring"
— 1898, Florence Earle Coates, Before the Hour:
"Tell thee, Macduffe was from his Mothers womb / Untimely ript."
— c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene viii], page 151:
"They light fires under fruit trees to keep the fruit from falling untimely."
— 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 215:
"Couldst thou go from us, in thy beauteous June, / Leaving a sense of joy untimely perished, / Of music stilled too soon?"
— 1916, Florence Earle Coates, In Memory of Caroline Furness Jayne:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The actor's ____ death deeply shocked his fans and the entire film industry.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The sudden and ____ death of the famous actor saddened many millions of fans around the entire world today.