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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

unbeing en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ʌnˈbiːɪŋ/

Etymology

From Middle English unbeing, equivalent to un- + being.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable, obsolete) Not in existence, nonexistent.
    • Beings yet unbeing c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “(please specify the section)”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield printer to the University; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton […]; and Mr. [John] Morphew […], published 1716, →OCLC:

unbeing en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ʌnˈbiːɪŋ/

Etymology

From Middle English unbeing, equivalent to un- + being.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) Nonexistence.
    • What we fear most is not death itself but the prospect of not being, or rather of unbeing, a state where we altogether cease to exist. The idea of unbeing is so alien to us that we find it almost impossible to conceive. 1997, Migene González-Wippler, What happens after death, page 3:
  2. (countable) A nonbeing; an entity of no existence or significance.
    • The house is pale as though its life-blood were sucked and the Cabots reduced to unbeings. 1987, Hari Mohan Prasad, The Dramatic Art of Eugene O'Neill, page 23:

Forms

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unbeings Number=Plur lexicographic