unfounded en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English founded English unfounded From un- + founded.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Having no strong foundation; not based on solid reasons or facts.
an unfounded report; unfounded fears
[…] the allegation that his lordship never allowed Jewish people to enter the house or any Jewish staff to be employed is utterly unfounded […]
1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, “Day Three, Morning”, in The Remains of the Day, Vintage International, published 1990, page 137:[…] such unfounded conjectures are best answered by neglect.
1798, Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population, London: J. Johnson, Chapter 11, p. 61, footnote:“He give a name,” said Mrs. Hall—an assertion which was quite unfounded—“but I didn’t rightly hear it.”
1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 4, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:The gloom of her first anticipations was proved to have been unfounded.
1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:[…] my chiefest design ever since the seventeenth year of my age […] consisted in elaborating such demonstrations in Natural Philosophy, as might serve to unfold the natures of Beings in relation to the Art of Physick, hitherto so uncertain, blind, and unfounded on Art […]
1663, Gideon Harvey, “To the Reader”, in Archelogia Philosophica Nova, or, New Principles of Philosophy, London: Samuel Thomson:
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(not-comparable) Not having been founded or instituted.
Even the great world as yet undiscovered, the cities as yet unfounded, and the history as yet unwritten, are lost: fallen from the beginning.
1980, Helen Louise Gardner, John Carey, English Renaissance studies, page 268:
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(not-comparable, obsolete) Bottomless.
He makes this Glob so spacious and fair Unfix’d, unprop’d, unfounded any where, Hang, like a Water-bubble in the Air.
1685, William Clark, The Grand Tryal, or, Poetical Exercitations upon the Book of Job, Edinburgh, Part 3, Chapter 26, p. 210:[…] from them I go This uncouth errand sole, and one for all My self expose, with lonely steps to tread Th’ unfounded deep […]
1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 826-829:
Deriveds
Synonyms
idle · unproved · baseless · groundless · unsubstantiated · unjustified · unproven · footless · ungrounded · groundless · baseless · unfounded · ungrounded · unsupported
Translations (56)
kmr bêbingeh (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ja 根拠のない (not based on solid reasons or facts) · bg необоснова́н (not based on solid reasons or facts) · pl nieuzasadniony (not based on solid reasons or facts) · de grundlos (not based on solid reasons or facts) · bg неоснова́телен (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ru беспо́чвенный (not based on solid reasons or facts) · fr sans fondement (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ca infundat (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ru необосно́ванный (not based on solid reasons or facts) · fr dénué de fondement (not based on solid reasons or facts) · fr infondé (not based on solid reasons or facts) · fr non fondé (not based on solid reasons or facts) · pl bezpodstawny (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ru безоснова́тельный (not based on solid reasons or facts) · be беспадста́ўны (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ro neîntemeiat (not based on solid reasons or facts) · pl bezzasadny (not based on solid reasons or facts) · tr köksüz (not based on solid reasons or facts) · eu funsgabe (not based on solid reasons or facts) · be неабгрунтава́ны (not based on solid reasons or facts) · da grundløs (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ro nefondat (not based on solid reasons or facts) · uk безпідста́вний (not based on solid reasons or facts) · sv grundlös (not based on solid reasons or facts) · sv obefogad (not based on solid reasons or facts) · mi mākiri (not based on solid reasons or facts) · es sin fundamento (not based on solid reasons or facts) · es non fundamentado (not based on solid reasons or facts) · nb ubegrunnet (not based on solid reasons or facts) · nb grunnlaus (not based on solid reasons or facts) · fi perusteeton (not based on solid reasons or facts) · he חסר בסיס (not based on solid reasons or facts) · da ubegrundet (not based on solid reasons or facts) · de unbegründet (not based on solid reasons or facts) · nn grunnlaus (not based on solid reasons or facts) · hy անհիմն (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ko 근거가 없는 (not based on solid reasons or facts) · tr asılsız (not based on solid reasons or facts) · nb grunnløs (not based on solid reasons or facts) · be безгрунто́ўны (not based on solid reasons or facts) · tr temelsiz (not based on solid reasons or facts) · mhr амалдыме (not based on solid reasons or facts) · hu alaptalan (not based on solid reasons or facts) · ka უსაფუძვლო (not based on solid reasons or facts) · sv ogrundad (not based on solid reasons or facts) · cs nepodložený (not based on solid reasons or facts) · cmn 莫須有 /莫须有 (not based on solid reasons or facts) · uk необґрунто́ваний (not based on solid reasons or facts) · fi perätön (not based on solid reasons or facts) · es que no tiene ni pies ni cabeza (not based on solid reasons or facts) · hu megalapozatlan (not based on solid reasons or facts) · vi vô căn cứ (not based on solid reasons or facts) · pt infundado (not based on solid reasons or facts) · es infundamentado (not based on solid reasons or facts) · es infundado (not based on solid reasons or facts)