untimely
/ʌnˈtaɪmli/
untimely adjective: at an inopportune time.
Adjective
untimely (comparative untimelier or more untimely, superlative untimeliest or most untimely)
- At an inopportune time.
- untimely remarks
- Synonyms:
- inopportune
- Early; premature.
- an untimely death
- 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
- Synonyms:
- early, premature, anticipatory, forward, hasty, precipitate, precocious, prevenient, previous, unseasonable
Adverb
untimely (comparative more untimely, superlative most untimely)
- Prematurely.
- 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...
- They light fires under fruit trees to keep the fruit from falling untimely.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 215
untimely meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
untimely in Hindi
- untimely, unseasonable, inopportune, premature
- अकाल akāl
untimely in Marathi
- अवेळेला
untimely in Urdu
- untimely, unseasonable, inopportune, premature
- اکال akāl
untimely in Bengali
- untimely, unseasonably
- অকাণ্ডে okanḍe
- untimely
- অকাল okal
More languagesFewer languages
- untimely in Telugu
- అకాలము akālamu
- untimely in Malayalam
- അകാലികമായ, സമയോചിതമല്ലാത്ത, അനവസരമായ
- untimely in Kannada
- ಹೊತ್ತುತಪ್ಪಿದ, ಹೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದ ಹೊತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಹೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದ ಹೊತ್ತು, ಸಮಯೋಚಿತವಲ್ಲದ
- untimely in Punjabi
- ਬੇਵਕਤੀ
- untimely in Odia
- ଅସମଯ଼
- untimely in Nepali
- असामयिक, असमय
Examples of untimely in a sentence
- Calcium bursts would increase spermatozoa motility, where cholesterol would decapacitate spermatozoa, so preventing untimely activation.
- They met an untimely doom when the mineshaft caved in.
- A child untimely ripped from its parents' arms.
Synonyms of untimely
8 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
5 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of untimely
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | untimelier |
| comparative | more untimely |
| superlative | untimeliest |
| superlative | most untimely |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more untimely |
| superlative | most untimely |
Origin of untimely
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 (“unseasonable”).
Words formed from untimely
Questions about untimely
- What does untimely mean?
- Untimely means at an inopportune time.
- What is untimely in Hindi?
- Untimely in Hindi is अकाल (akāl). See Untimely meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is untimely?
- Untimely can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce untimely?
- Untimely is pronounced /ʌnˈtaɪmli/.
Words near untimely in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: untimely (page history and authors); अकाल (Hindi) (page history and authors); untimely (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); اکال (Urdu) (page history and authors); অকাণ্ডে (Bengali) (page history and authors); అకాలము (Telugu) (page history and authors); untimely (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); untimely (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); untimely (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); untimely (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); untimely (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-untimely.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-untimely.wav.
Cite this entry: “untimely.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/untimely. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.