unreasonable

English

Etymology

From Middle English unresonable, equivalent to un- +‎ reasonable, originally partly after Latin irratiōnābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈɹiːz.(ə)nə.bl̩/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: un‧rea‧son‧a‧ble

Adjective

unreasonable (comparative more unreasonable, superlative most unreasonable)

1. Without the ability to reason; unreasoning.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     Hold thy desperate hand:
     Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
     Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
     The unreasonable fury of a beast:
     Unseemly woman in a seeming man!

2. Not reasonable; going beyond what could be expected or asked for.

   Antonym: reasonable

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:27:

     For it seemeth to me vnreasonable, to send a prisoner, and not withall to signifie the crimes laid against him.

   • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Duty to Parents”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 358:

     The will of those who never allow their will to be disputed, unless they happen to be in a good humour, when they relax proportionally, is almost always unreasonable.

   • 2025 January 26, Priscilla Alvarez, Rosa Flores, “Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 9 March 2025:

     The groups claimed the administration’s planned operations targeted the city for its sanctuary status and amount to a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, according to the court filing .

Derived terms

• Wednesbury unreasonable
• unreasonableness
• unreasonably

Translations

not reasonable

• Bulgarian: нерезонен (nerezonen)
• Danish: urimelig
• Esperanto: senracia (eo)
• Finnish: kohtuuton (fi)
• French: déraisonnable (fr)
• German: unvernünftig (de), kompromisslos (de), nicht nachvollziehbar, unklug (de), übertrieben (de), unmäßig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἄλογος (álogos)

• Italian: irragionevole (it)
• Latin: irratiōnābilis
• Manx: meeresoonagh, neuresoonagh
• Plautdietsch: onveninftich
• Polish: nierozsądny (pl)
• Portuguese: insensato (pt), (MAT) irracional
• Romanian: nerezonabil m
• Russian: неразу́мный (ru) (nerazúmnyj)
• Spanish: irrazonable (es)
• Swedish: orimlig (sv), oresonlig (sv)
• Telugu: నిష్కారణము (te) (niṣkāraṇamu)
• Welsh: afresymol (cy)