Dictionary

unwisdom en · NOUN

Pronunciation

/(ˌ)ʌnˈwɪzdəm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
(Southern-England) audio
/ˌʌnˈwɪzdəm/ (General-American)

Etymology

PIE word *né From Middle English unwisdom (“lack of wisdom, foolishness; an instance of this”), from Old English unwīsdōm, from un- (prefix denoting absence or negation of something) + wīsdōm (“wisdom”) (from Proto-Germanic *wīsadōmaz (“wise judgment, wisdom”), from *wīsaz (“knowledgeable, wise”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to know; to see”)) + *-dōmaz (suffix forming nouns denoting the condition or state of [the suffixed word]) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”))). The word was apparently obsolete in the 18th century, but was revived from the 19th century and possibly popularized by its use in the works of the Scottish author and philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881): see the quotations. By surface analysis, un- (prefix denoting a lack of something) + wisdom.

Meanings

(uncountable) Lack of wisdom; unwise action or conduct; folly, foolishness.
- He spoke of criminal carelessness and culpable stupidity; he spoke of the unwisdom of volunteering one's services as a guinea pig. 1970 October, Larry Niven, “The Ring Floor”, in Ringworld, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published January 1976, →ISBN, page 135:
- Eccle[siasticus] 21. 15. […] Forſooth vnvviſedome is, &c. [i.e., which is plenteous in euill.] Sixtus [Pope Sixtus V] and the Louans, reading it amiſſe. 1612, Thomas Iames [i.e., James], “The Third Part. The Varietie & Contrarietie of the Popish Bibles, Commonlie Called the Vulgar Bibles in Latine.”, in A Treatise of the Corruption of Scripture, Councels, and Fathers, […], new edition, London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes […], →OCLC, paragraph 20, page 13:
- [T]he French government has committed the unwisdom of persecuting the Saint-Simonians. Persecution is always a bungler's craft, that in trying to stop one hole opens two. 1832 April, [Thomas Perronet Thompson], “Art. I.—Doctrine de Saint-Simon. Exposition. Première Année. 1829.—Seconde Edition. Paris. Mesnier. 8vo. pp. 431 […] [book review]”, in The Westminster Review, volume XVI, number XXXII, London: […] Robert Heward, […], →OCLC, page 321:
- But as the sentence of Clement [Pope Clement VII] sealed the fate of the Nun of Kent [Elizabeth Barton], so the unwisdom of his successor [Pope Paul III] bore similarly fatal fruits. 1856, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth, volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], →OCLC, page 371:
- Reporting from Vietnam in 1945, he may have been the first person to assert the extreme unwisdom of trying to restore French colonialism with British troops. 2010, Christopher Hitchens, “The Fenton Factor”, in Hitch-22: A Memoir, London: Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 151:
- And all we conſyderynge her gracyous and charytable mynde, ſo unyuerſally, and conſyderyng the redyneſs of mercy and pyte in our Savyour Jheſu, may ſay, by lamentable complaynt of our unwyſedome, unto hym. Ah Domine! ſi fuiſſes hic—Ah my Lorde! yf thou had ben preſente, […] 1509 (date delivered), Johan [i.e., John] Fisher, “A Mornynge Remembrance, had at the Moneth Minde of the Noble Prynces Margarete Countesse of Richmonde and Darbye, Moder unto Kynge Henry the Seventh, and Grandame to Our Soveraign Lorde that Now is. Upon whose Soul Almightye GOD Have Mercy.”, in The Funeral Sermon of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, Mother to King Henry VII. and Foundress of Christ’s, and St John’s College in Cambridge, […], London: […] A. Bosvile, […], published 1708, →OCLC, pages 22–23:
- A very common engine fault, leaking joints, provides an example of the unwisdom of undertaking design modification without full service experience. […] After only a short period of service, however, so many railways requested a reversion to the original type that the modification had to be abandoned. 1963 February, “Diesel Locomotive Faults and Their Remedies”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 99:
- The Earth is good, bountifully sends food and increase; if man's unwisdom did not intervene and forbid. 1839 (indicated as 1840), Thomas Carlyle, “Finest Peasantry in the World”, in Chartism, London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, page 27:
(countable, uncountable) An instance of a lack of wisdom; a foolish act.
- For hereby are fostered, fed into gigantic bulk, all manner of Unwisdoms, poison-fruits; till, as we way, the life-tree everywhere is made a upas-tree, deadly Unwisdom overshadowing all things; […] 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Aristocracy of Talent”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 30:
- Mr. [Macvey] Napier's little book is a reprint of two Edinburgh Review articles on [Francis] Bacon and Raleigh. The first, a learned statement of facts in answer to some unwisdom of a Quarterly reviewer (possibly an Oxford Aristotelian; for 'we think we do know that sweet Roman hand'). 1855 May, Charles Kingsley, “Sir Walter Raleigh and His Time”, in Miscellanies […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], published 1859, →OCLC, page 8:
- Between these two extremes, of human wisdom on the one hand, and human ignorance on the other, all manner of half wisdoms and unwisdoms, of appetites, passions, and self-denials, of convictions and prejudices, jostle one another in contending for partial and temporary dominion over the mind and the habits of man. 1843 August 18, “Bathing”, in The London Medical Gazette; Being a Weekly Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, volume II (New Series), London: […] Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 745:
- Is the fall of a stone certain: and the fruit of an unwisdom doubtful? 1850 July 1, Thomas Carlyle, “No. VII. Hudson’s Statue.”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 245:
(countable, rare, uncountable) A foolish or unwise being or force.
- [W]hat great thing ever happened in this world, a world understood always to be made and governed by a Providence and Wisdom, not by an Unwisdom, without meaning somewhat? 1839 (indicated as 1840), Thomas Carlyle, “Rights and Mights”, in Chartism, London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, page 42: