Dictionary

unchristian en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ʌnˈkɹɪstɪən/ (UK)
• /ʌnˈkɹɪst͡ʃən/ (General-American)
• /ʌnˈkɹɪstʃən/ (UK)

Etymology

Alternation (due to Christian) of Middle English uncristen, uncristene, from Old English uncristen (“unchristian”), equivalent to un- + Christian. Compare West Frisian onkristen, Dutch onkristen (obsolete Dutch onchristen), Danish ukristen, Swedish okristen, Icelandic ókristinn.

Meanings

1. Not of the Christian faith.
2. Not in accord with Christian principles; without Christian spirit; unbefitting a Christian.
   • I hope I may never again be in a state of mind so unchristian as the mental frame in which I lived for some weeks, respecting the memory of Master B. [His bell rang] two nights out of three, until I conceived the happy idea of twisting Master B.‘s neck […] 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:
   • Arius […] eventually died obscurely, reputedly as the result of an acute attack of dysentery in a latrine in Constantinople, which circumstance afforded his enemies some unchristian pleasure, and was eventually commemorated with exemplary lack of charity in the Orthodox liturgy. 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 215:

Forms

Deriveds

unchristianness · unchristianly

Relateds

unchristianlike

Translations (13)

fi ei-kristillinen (not of the Christian faith) · tl dimakakristo (not of the Christian faith) · ga míchríostúil (not of the Christian faith) · fi epäkristillinen (not in accord with Christian principles) · ga ainchríostúil (not of the Christian faith) · tl di-Kristiyano (not of the Christian faith) · ga neamhchríostúil (not of the Christian faith) · el αντιχριστιανικός (not in accord with Christian principles) · fr inchrétien (not of the Christian faith) · pl niechrześcijański (not in accord with Christian principles) · tl dibinyagin (not of the Christian faith) · pl niechrześcijański (not of the Christian faith) · ro necreștin (not of the Christian faith)