unprocurable

English

WOTD – 27 June 2011

Etymology

From un- +‎ procurable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnpɹəˈkjʊəɹəb(ə)l/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Adjective

unprocurable (comparative more unprocurable, superlative most unprocurable)

1. Unable to be procured.
   • 1884, Richard Francis Burton, The Book of the Sword:

     It is clear, for instance, in Central Africa, where copper and tin were unprocurable, that man must first have used iron.

   • 1917, The Guardian, 1 Jun 1917:

     We have been told in many plaintive articles and letters in the London press that servants nowadays are almost unprocurable, and even the best people are having to shut up part of their houses and live in one floor, and so on.

   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four:

     But it needed desperate courage to kill yourself in a world where firearms, or any quick or certain poison, were completely unprocurable.

Synonyms

• See unobtainable

Antonyms

• procurable; see also obtainable

Translations

unobtainable — see unobtainable