deathworthyadj.
/ˈdɛθˌwəːði/, U.S. /ˈdɛθˌwərði/ Worthy or deserving of (punishment by) death.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [adjective] > worthy of death
deathworthya1400
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > [adjective] > to death
deathworthya1400
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > [adjective] > extremely wicked > deserving of death
deathworthy1532
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 11967 Quat has it don þis bodi, ded worþei to be?
a1475 (a1447) O. Bokenham Mappula Angliae in Englische Studien (1887) 10 12 The whiche fosse, yf any walsshman had passid ouyr armyd in kynge Edwardis tyme..hit had byn a dede-worþi offence.
1532 T. More Confut. Barnes in Wks. (1557) 780/2 He was death worthy yt wythdrewe from god the mony which himself had giuen to god.
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E4 This guilt would seem death-worthie in thy brother. View more context for this quotation
1615 P. Gordon Famous Hist. Bruce i. i. sig. B4v My Death-worthie Crime, with death Repay.
1838 Q. Rev. Jan. 91/2 Mr. Forster quotes..from Schiller, the expressions ‘perjured traitor and death-worthy criminal’.
1882 H. St. Clair Feilden Short Const. Hist. Eng. iv. 157 One [of Alfred's laws] makes treason deathworthy.
1906 C. M. Doughty Dawn in Brit. III. ix. 47 Deathworthy adjudged are, by Dunwallon's laws, Who bring in other gods.
1957 T. Reik Myth & Guilt ii. x. 133 What the biblical tale reports..is..an action of great pith and momentum, a death-worthy deed.
2012 Internat. Herald Tribune (Nexis) 18 Apr. 9 Juries tend to see darker defendants as more ‘deathworthy’ in capital cases involving white victims.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1400