unreconstructedadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnriːkənˈstrʌktᵻd/, U.S. /ˌənˌrikənˈstrəktəd/ Originally U.S.
1.
a. Designating a native or inhabitant of the Southern states not reconciled to the defeat of the Confederacy in the American Civil War (1861–5) and opposing Reconstruction (reconstruction n. 1c) afterwards; (later more generally) stubbornly maintaining the beliefs, values, and practices traditionally associated with the antebellum South. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > American politics > [adjective] > favouring specific principles or policies
federal1787
anti-federal1788
rep1812
dough-faced1820
republican1854
hunkerish1857
unreconstructed1865
reservationist1919
America First1925
McCarthyite1952
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > rejecting change
unreconstructed1865
1865 Liberator (Boston) 17 Nov. 181/4 We can imagine him reading his address to a knot of unreconstructed Southerners fresh from the Rebel army.
1867 Harper's Weekly 9 Nov. 707/2 The Democratic candidates in Maryland are..of the ‘unreconstructed’ kind.
1869 Nation 25 Mar. 221/2 Butler's Committee on Reconstruction reported in favor of extending..the time during which an ‘unreconstructed’ Southerner may retain his Government employment.
1877 H. W. Longfellow in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1891) III. 277 A letter from Mr. ——, of Washington, a fierce and ‘unreconstructed’ rebel.
a1936 R. Kipling Something of Myself (1937) vii. 195 There came..with her married daughter the widow of a Confederate Cavalry leader; both of them were what you might call ‘unreconstructed’ rebels.
1968 Economist 6 Jan. 34/3 The trial had an even greater impact because of the blunt rebukes hurled at the defendants by Judge Harold Cox, once considered one of the more unreconstructed judges in the South.
2000 L. S. Butler Pirates, Privateers, & Rebel Raiders 197 An unreconstructed rebel, Wood flew the Confederate flag over Wilkinson, Wood and Company for the remainder of his life.
2012 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Sept. a1 Obama, boosted by support in the booming Northern Virginia suburbs—known among some unreconstructed southerners as Occupied Virginia—won the state four years ago.
b. gen. not reconciled to a changed or current social, political, or economic situation or ideology; maintaining beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarded by other people as outdated or extreme; unreformed; diehard.
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the world > action or operation > amending > [adjective] > reforming > reformed > not
unreformed?1535
irreformed1651
unreconstructed1868
1868 Hahnemannian Monthly Sept. 94 With much respect, I remain yours, very truly, An Unreconstructed Alumnus.
1889 in S. M. Jackson Conc. Dict. Relig. Knowl. 580 Paradise Lost..brought him a few pounds and a little reputation; people admitted that it was fine verse, but then its author had been a rebel against church and king, and was still unreconstructed.
1942 Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier 30 Dec. 4/2 Maybe the opposition from unreconstructed isolationists will be much weaker than some partisans have anticipated.
1973 R. Hayes Hungarian Game viii. 63 All 10 seem to be unreconstructed Stalinists, somewhat to the fanatical left of both Rákosi and Gerö.
1994 i-D Oct. 116/2 Stuart is an unreconstructed pussy hound.
2010 Daily Tel. 14 May 28/6 The flashy new buildings inside which the same unreconstructed public services trundled along much as before.
2013 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Mar. Will this unreconstructed Socialist never learn that only when firms and families are freed from the suffocating burden of the State can the economy breathe and grow?
c. In extended use, with reference to outdated styles in music, fashion, etc.
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1964 R. S. Gold Jazz Lexicon 225 This bickering was as nothing compared to the gulf that separated the adherents of bop..and those the boppers derisively referred to as ‘moldy figs’ (a term to which the unreconstructed ‘figs’ have now adjusted so completely that they apply it to themselves with pride.
1985 Times 23 Feb. 19/4 These unreconstructed proto-punks have relaxed the pace that once led them to a performance record of 17 songs in 30 minutes.
1990 L. Barber Mostly Men (1992) 223 He had crêpe-soled shoes and greased-back hair like an unreconstructed fifties Teddy Boy—this was in 1964 when everyone was trying to look like Bob Dylan.
2013 New Musical Express 30 Mar. 39/2 Impressing with its unreconstructed Fleetwood Mac guitar solo and ‘Tusk’-worthy bluntness.
2. Not rebuilt.
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1866 Round Table 28 July 471/2 Four years of war has left our world of letters, like our world of politics, in an unreconstructed condition.
1931 Ann. Amer. Schools Oriental Res. 12 20 The proportion of rope-bands with herring-bone design was also high among the unreconstructed store-jars.
1981 ‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty i. 12 The place is pretty much unreconstructed..an ancient bathroom complete with mahogany bathtub.
1990 R. Tolley Calming Traffic in Resid. Areas vi. 56 The high quality of the environment in the project areas provides a spectacular contrast with unreconstructed streets nearby.
2012 Time Out (Nexis) 10 May 11 A shockingly brave piece of architecture for what at the time it was built was an almost completely unreconstructed area.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1865