unfledged

Adjective

unfledged (not comparable)

1. Not having feathers.
   • Ambition is firſt Miniſter of State; / Love's but a ſecond in the Cabinet; / nor can he feather there his unfledg'd Shaft / But from Ambition's VVing: […]1728 (date written), Edward Young, The Brothers. A Tragedy. […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1753, →OCLC, Act II, page 20
   • This knave, […] shoes horses better than e'er a man betwixt us and Iceland; and so he gives up his practice on the bipeds, the two-legged and unfledged species, called mankind, and betakes him entirely to shoeing of horses.1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], chapter IX, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   apteric, featherless, unfeathered, unfletched

   1. Of a bird: not yet having developed its feathers and wings and become able to fly.
      • [W]e poore vnfledg'd / Haue never vving'd from vievv o' th'neſt; nor knovves^([sic – meaning know]) not / VVhat Ayre's from home.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
      • [T]his ſuperannuated Beldame gapes for Flattery, like a Neſt of unfledged Crovvs for Food; and vvith them too, gulps dovvn every Thing that's offer'd her—no matter hovv Coarſe; […]1752, Samuel Foote, Taste. A Comedy, […], London: […] R[ichard] Francklin, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 3
2. (figuratively) Of a person: not yet fully grown or mature; lacking experience, like a novice or tyro; immature, inexperienced; hence, of or relating to youth.
   • But do not dull the palme vvith entertaine, / Of euery nevv vnfledg'd courage, […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell...
   • Temptations haue ſince then been born to's: for / In thoſe vnfledg'd dayes, vvas my VVife a Girle; / Your precious ſelfe had then not croſs'd the eyes / Of my young Play-fellovv.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   callow, green, unfletched, experienceless, inexperienced, unexperienced, fresh, new, punk, pup

   Antonyms:

   practiced, seasoned, versed, hard-bitten, qualified, veteran, accomplished, adept, old, hardened

3. (figuratively) Of a thing: not yet fully developed; imperfect, incomplete, unfinished.
   • Beſides, it is not poſſible to give a young perſon a juſt vievv of life; he muſt have ſtruggled vvith his ovvn paſſions before he can eſtimate the force of the temptation vvhich betrayed his brother into vice. Thoſe vvho are entering life, and those vvho are departing, ſee the vvorld from ſuch very...1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Animadversions on Some of the Writers who have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With...
   • Yet they who watch your God-compelled return / May see your happy perihelion burn / Where the calm sun his unfledged planets broods.1849, James Russell Lowell, “Si Descendero in Infernum, Ades”, in Poems, revised edition, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 38

   Antonyms:

   full-fledged, full-blown, full-on