undeserved

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Germanic *un-

Proto-West Germanic *un-

Old English un-

Middle English un-

English un-

English deserved

English undeserved

From un- + deserved.

Adjective

undeserved (comparative more undeserved, superlative most undeserved)

1. Not deserved, earned or merited; unjustifiable or unfair.

   Synonyms: ill-deserved, unearned

   Antonym: deserved

   • 1957 February, “Solitaire Chess”, in Chess Review:

     Second best moves are good enough against most chessplayers. Occasionally, they even earn an undeserved reward. But not against Alekhine.

   • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:

     And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him.

Derived terms

• undeservedly
• undeservedness

Translations

not deserved, earned or merited; unjustifiable or unfair

• Bulgarian: незаслужен (bg) (nezaslužen)
• Catalan: immerescut
• Czech: nezasloužený
• Finnish: ansaitsematon (fi)
• French: immérité (fr), injustifié (fr)
• German: unverdient
• Irish: éagórach, neamhthuillte
• Italian: immeritato (it)
• Latin: immeritus
• Manx: neuhoillit
• Portuguese: imerecido (pt)
• Russian: незаслуженный (ru) (nezaslužennyj)
• Spanish: inmerecido (es)
• Swedish: oförtjänt (sv)