† unelegantadj.
Obsolete.
= inelegant adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > inelegance > [adjective]
unsewly?c1225
unseemlyc1340
unburlya1400
ungoodly1495
unhandsome1530
unsquared1549
inelegant1570
unelegant1570
indecent1590
undressed1598
unfinified1609
undecent1622
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective]
wanmola1325
rudea1393
lewdc1425
rustyc1425
unpolisheda1450
roidc1485
inelegant1509
gross1513
rough?1520
barbarous1526
ineloquent1532
inconcinnate1534
crabby1550
crabbed1561
uneloquent1565
unelegant1570
unkempt1579
unfiled1590
illiterate1598
unconceived1599
aliterate1624
incompta1628
scabbed1630
uncombed1633
uncompt1633
uncouth1694
coarse1699
slatternly1783
crude1786
warty1822
stumbling1859
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Biv v/2 Vnelegant, inelegans.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Inelegante, vnelegant, without grace.
1667 J. Dryden Let. to Sir R. Howard in Annus Mirabilis 1666 Pref. I hope they are neither improper, nor altogether unelegant in Verse.
1711 Spectator No. 67. ⁋18 Concluding..that the Person who collected them is a Man of no unelegant Taste.
a1768 T. Secker Serm. Several Subj. (1771) VII. xv. 343 Possibly in some of these Books you meet with Expressions..which appear unelegant and singular.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adverb]
barbarously1531
rustically1548
crabbedly1561
scabrouslya1572
gracelesslya1586
unelegantly1603
uneloquently1611
crudely1638
inelegantly1698
ineloquently1828
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 517 Neither seemeth he unelegantly and besides the purpose..to have expressed as much in this verse.
1659 O. Walker Some Instr. Art of Oratory 23 Transitions..are not unelegantly ushered in, by the Orators making Interrogations himself.
1758 J. Jortin Life Erasmus I. 142 It was no wonder if they wrote it ill and unelegantly.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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adj.1570