unprofitableadj.n.adv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈprɒfᵻtəbl/, U.S. /ˌənˈprɑfədəb(ə)l/ A. adj.† 1. Evil, wicked; harmful. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > [adjective]
unbeheveeOE
unprofitablec1350
thriftlessc1400
undisposingc1400
disprofitable1548
disadvantageous1550
incommodious1579
disadvantageable1587
unadvantageable1603
lossful1611
naught1620
disvantageous1622
disserviceable1645
incommodous1677
unserviceable1698
zero-sum1965
downside1983
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) xiii. 4 Alle boweden, to-gider hij ben vnprofitable.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 3108 [Envie is] to mankinde unprofitable.
a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) l. 2268 To vs Romayns were it couenable, Swiche an eschaunge; but vnprofitable.
1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) 227 (MED) Her tongue was neuer meued to vnprofytable spekynges.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 400 An vniust and vnprofitable Prince.
a1656 Bp. J. Hall Shaking of Olive-tree (1660) ii. 25 He [sc. the Devil] puts out both the eyes of our apprehension and judgement, that he may gyre us about in the Mill of unprofitable wickednesse.
2. Serving no useful purpose; not beneficial; useless, pointless. In early use also: †incompetent, incapable (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [adjective]
leera1250
unprofitablea1398
noughtc1400
inutile1484
unutilea1500
vain1578
useless1593
unuseful1604
serviceless1608
aidless1674
unproductive1713
good-for-nothing1727
nowt1790
invaluable1803
stupid1844
dud1904
puckerooed1919
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adjective]
idlec825
unnuteOE
bricklec1225
tooma1250
unnaita1250
vaina1300
waste1303
overvoida1382
voida1382
superfluec1384
daylessa1387
unbehovely1390
unprofitablea1398
unbehoveful1429
wastefulc1450
idleful1483
fruster1488
vainful1509
frustrate?a1513
superfluousa1533
addle1534
lost1535
fittle1552
futilea1575
nugatory1605
futilous1607
shiftless1613
tympanous1625
emptya1628
frustraneousa1643
pointless1673
futilitous1765
otiose1795
stultificatory1931
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. cxlix. 1048 But þornes beth nouȝt alle vnprofitable, but þey beþ goode and profitable to many maner vse.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) i. pr. iii. l. 223 Oure leder draweþ to gedir hys rycchesse in to hys toure. and þei ben ententif aboute sarpulers or sachels vnprofitable [L. inutiles] forto taken.
?1435 in C. L. Kingsford Chrons. London (1905) 42 Demyng hym sylff..vtterly vnprofitable to the Rewle and goode gouernaunces off the Rewme.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. John xv. 97 An unprofitable braunche, when it is cut of with a shreadyng hooke.
1555 R. Sherry Treat. Figures Gram. & Rhetorike f. ix Tautologia, an unprofitable rehearsall of all one woorde, or construccion.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 4 Hee was judged an unprofitable servant.
1638 R. Brathwait Surv. Hist. 118 I find many unprofitable passages in the Translation of our Histories.
1735 S. Johnson tr. J. Lobo Voy. Abyssinia 7 To expose ourselves..to a Death almost certain and unprofitable.
1791 R. Merry Lorenzo iii. ii. 40 Why should you trouble your offenceless spirit, By such unprofitable meditation?
1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. 249 The..unprofitable subtleties of the schools.
1883 Cent. Mag. Feb. 628/2 There are doubtless notable omissions [in the book], and there is an unprofitable flippancy of style.
1957 Brittonia 9 2 Many taxonomists..take a dim view of nomenclature, considering it a dry and unprofitable subject.
2010 Central European Hist. 43 698 This line of reasoning can only end in unprofitable speculation about who initiated tensions.
3. Not yielding profit or financial gain; unremunerative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [adjective] > profitable > not profitable or interest-bearing
dead1571
unprofitable1579
passive1606
rentless1648
unlucrative1762
unremunerating1822
unremunerative1827
unpayable1862
uneconomic1899
1579 T. Twyne tr. Petrarch Phisicke against Fortune i. cxi. f. 139v Hauyng spent all theyr reuenue in vnprofitable expences.
1627 J. Speed Eng. Abridged xlv. §7 This Iland so small..and so vnpeopled and vnprofitable.
1696 J. Holland Short Disc. Indian & Afr. Comp. 2 It is unprofitable and a lossing Trade, if what we Import costs more than what we sent out.
1751 W. Hill Prop. uniting Kingdoms Great Brit. & Ireland 42 Such Trade is not meerly unprofitable. It is pernicious in a moral, as well as mercantile Sense.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. i. 23 A philosophical chemist would probably make a very unprofitable business of farming.
1887 Bangor (Maine) Daily Whig & Courier 9 Feb. 3/2 Seamen..whose business had become unprofitable on account of the early purse seine fishing.
1910 W. S. Davis Infl. Wealth in Imperial Rome i. 1 Their ventures in the Ethiopian caravan trade also were unprofitable.
1974 Howard Jrnl. 14 41 Renting to the poor became increasingly unprofitable.
2002 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 10 Oct. 28/4 A shift in economic strategy may mean more pressure on unprofitable state-owned enterprises.
B. n.
With the. That which is unprofitable; (with plural agreement) unprofitable people or things as a class.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [noun] > person
unprofitablea1382
futile1892
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Prov. xiv. 35 Alouwid is to þe kyng an vnderstondynge seruaunt: þe plente of his wrathe þe vnprofitable [L. inutilis] shal suffren.
1570 T. North tr. A. F. Doni Morall Philos. iii. f. 70v O it is but meete my Lord, that that which is profitable in you should be saued, and the vnprofitable in me lost.
1676 T. Garencières Admirable Virtues Coral 29 In the preparation of the Remedies, the pure is separated from the impure, the useful from the unprofitable.
1718 S. Adams Plain & Full Instr. in Princ. & Doctr. Christian Relig. 56 Our Lord is represented..as a Master distinguishing the Servants of his Family, rewarding the Faithful, punishing the Unprofitable.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 345/2 To distinguish good from evil,..the profitable from the unprofitable.
1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber ii. 66 How to..avoid what is ordinarily regarded as the dull and prosaic, the stale, the flat, the unprofitable.
2002 Z. W. Mankowitz Life between Memory & Hope vii. 131 They—the vulnerable, the weak and the unprofitable—were the first victims of the cold, hunger, disease, forced labor and systematic murder.
Unprofitably. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > [adverb]
unprofitably1395
unprofitablec1450
discommodiously1590
disadvantageously1611
disadvantageably1627
disserviceablya1670
malignly1828
c1450 (a1400) Orologium Sapientiæ in Anglia (1888) 10 360 Þat I hadde so vnprofitabil spendid þe tyme.
a1600 R. Hooker Answere Supplic. W. Travers (1612) 19 These schoole implements are acknowledged by graue and wise men not vnprofitable to haue beene invented.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
adj.n.adv.c1350