unofficialadj.n.
/ˌʌnəˈfɪʃl/, U.S. /ˌənəˈfɪʃəl/ A. adj.
1. Not arising from or relating to the work or duties of an official position.
ΚΠ
1784 J. Murray Let. 8 Feb. in Authentic Copy Corr. India (1787) VI. 31 An unofficial letter to Mr. Hastings early in December last, that might lead him to expect an official address relative to the alarming magnitude of the military charges.
1797 in E. Burke Three Mem. French Affairs Pref. p. xxi A sort of unofficial negociacion ensued.
1810 Port Folio Dec. 566 Most of the state papers issued during our revolutionary contest, as well as many of the unofficial writings of several of those..who conducted us through it.
1898 Musical Times Jan. 19/1 The zeal with which he discharges these unofficial duties.
1916 Rep. Louisiana Bar Assoc. 17 75 He would know that his official and unofficial conduct would be open to attack at frequent intervals.
1951 N.Y. Times 2 Oct. 9/2 The Dutch Foreign Ministry announced today that Queen Juliana's husband, Prince Bernhard, would pay an unofficial visit to the United States in mid-October.
2013 O. King Double Feature 54 Professor Stuart in his official capacity as the script supervisor and his unofficial capacity as the jack-of-all-trades.
2. Not holding an official position; not acting in an official capacity; not formally commissioned or recognized.
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society > authority > office > [adjective] > holding office > not
officelessc1475
unofficed1644
unofficial1787
1787 Public Advertiser 18 May The government of Bengal..was preferably entrusted to an undignified and unofficial individual.
1829 T. P. Thompson in Westm. Rev. July 260 Unofficial philosophers must be content to classify appearances as they arise.
1879 A. W. Tourgee Figs & Thistles liv. 485 Hoping to appear..as a sort of unofficial vindicator of public purity.
1923 News Bull. Foreign Policy Assoc. 23 Mar. 2/2 The recent appointment of Dr. Rupert Blue as unofficial representative on the League of Nations Committee on Opium.
1967 Listener 22 June 829/2 These two volumes will certainly be a gold mine for future unofficial biographers.
2012 L. Thurston Literary Ghosts from Victorians to Modernism iii. 65 By 1929, M. R. James had become a kind of unofficial laureate of the ghost story.
3. Not characteristic of an official; not official in style, manner, tone, etc.; informal.
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1787 London Chron. 23 June 608/2 The late forged Gazette was the most awkward attempt at imposition that ever yet was practised; it was so unofficial in its construction, that even the name of the Secretary of State was not mentioned.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. Introd. 3 His sheep-dog following with a heedless unofficial air as of a beadle in undress.
1871 T. G. Bowles Def. Paris xiii. 145 There is often adopted in the official part of this journal a very unofficial tone of flippant insolence.
1934 Manch. Guardian 17 Dec. 11/4 It was a thoroughly unofficial Lord Mayor who called down Father Christmas from the chimney and a quite human Lady Mayoress who distributed her bouquet among the little guests.
2009 J. Gros in S. B. Bevans & J. Gros Evangelizing Relig. Freedom ii. iii. 219 The result was that the text had a very unofficial and ad hoc character.
4. Not officially authorized or confirmed by a government, organization, employer, etc.; unsanctioned, unratified.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > [adjective] > official or derived from persons in office > not
unofficial1796
non-official1833
1796 Star 1 July We are..left to collect the truth, as well as we can, from the unofficial statements that have reached us.
1833 Amer. Ann. Educ. Aug. 347 Several State and many local Lyceums have been formed during the past year, of which unofficial information has been received.
1893 Electrician 3 Nov. 2/1 We hear an unofficial rumour that yet another loud-speaking telephone has been invented.
1924 Jrnl. Illinois State Hist. Soc. 17 131 The unquietude was more or less settled by the unofficial reports that we would leave on the twenty-ninth.
1969 ‘E. Lathen’ When in Greece vii. 71 The unofficial uniform of the Quaker camp—a white shirt, faded chino pants, and field boots.
1980 Times 3 Oct. 3/1 The practice of taking unofficial days off is so well established that [railway] staff have special names for it, ‘Awaydays’ in Southern and ‘Blow-outs’ in Eastern region.
2009 G. S. Laveaga Jungle Lab. viii. 172 The unofficial estimate..ranged from 25,000 families to 100,000 individuals.
B. n.
A person who is not an official; spec. = unofficial member n. at Compounds. Chiefly in plural.
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society > authority > office > holder of office > [noun] > not
private1483
idiot1651
unofficial1833
non-official1860
1833 U.S. Gaz. (Philadelphia) 29 June The very men selected by his [sc. the President's] partisans..were seen lingering among the unofficials.
1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 July 4/1 We have a letter this morning from St. Petersburg, the writer of which is a leader among the ‘unofficials’.
1921 A. Lethbridge W. Afr. Elusive xvi. 158 It was explained that unofficials could shake hands with the devil himself, if they so desired.
1993 A. Morrison Fair Land Sarawak vi. 105 I was the official and the unofficial was Datu Mustapha.
2014 W. D. McIntyre Winding up Brit. Empire in Pacific Islands xv. 180 In the executive council there were two islanders and two European unofficials.
Compounds
unofficial member n. a member of a legislative body who does not hold government office, esp. (in later use) in the British Empire or the Commonwealth; cf. private member n.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > English or British parliament > [noun] > Member of Parliament > other types of member
burgessc1425
private member1606
recruiter1648
university member1774
unofficial member1822
labour member1871
Labour-Liberal1890
service member1890
front-bencher1907
back-bencher1910
shire-member1910
1822 Examiner 3 Mar. 133/2 If he..made a mistake, it was no more than every unofficial Member was liable to.
1970 A. P. Herbert In Dark iii. 74 There spoke, besides two long-suffering Ministers, 14 private (or ‘unofficial’) members—12 against and 2 in favour.
2013 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 28 May The city's 32-member apex policy-making body comprised half of Cabinet ministers and half of unofficial members.
unofficial strike n. a strike not called or endorsed by the union to which the strikers belong; cf. wildcat strike n. at wild cat n. Compounds 2.
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society > occupation and work > working > labour relations > [noun] > strike > sudden or unofficial strike
outlaw strike1810
walkout1881
unofficial strike1894
lightning strike1913
wildcat strike1937
wildcat stoppage1942
rag-out1953
wild cat1959
wild-catting1969
1894 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 10 Feb. 8/5 Sir Thomas Wright laid down the law unexceptionably in regard to unofficial strikes and lock-outs.
1946 ‘G. Orwell’ in Partisan Rev. Summer 321 There is resentment against long hours and bad working conditions, which has shown itself in a series of ‘unofficial’ strikes.
2010 H. Collins Employm. Law xi. 251 If the strike action falls outside this protection by being an unofficial strike.., a dismissed employee has no claim for compensation at all.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1784