unrefereedadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnrɛfəˈriːd/, U.S. /ˌənˌrɛfəˈrid/ 1. Of a match or contest: without a referee. Also figurative.
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1913 Pearson's Mag. Feb. 156/1 Billy had seen just enough of the Avenue Olympic Games..to realize that he had no business whatever entering an unrefereed Marathon scramble [sc. towards high society].
1947 Anniston (Alabama) Star 31 July 14/2 Fierce, unrefereed games, similar to Lacrosse, played by the two tribes.
1991 Philadelphia Inquirer 3 May d8/1 The 1988 marriage made in hype heaven devolved into an unrefereed, bare-knuckled bout that ended in a split decision.
2005 S. Kleinfield His Oldest Friend xxvii. 267 A basketball game played on an asphalt court by teenage boys with sweaty faces..a fast-moving unrefereed game.
2. Of a scientific or other academic work: not examined by an expert in order to assess its suitability for publication; not peer-reviewed.
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1956 Microcosm 1 3/1 The proceedings is in one sense unrefereed, but..the members of the Academy..act as referees, each being individually responsible for the papers he writes or communicates on behalf of a colleague who is not a member.
1964 SIAM Rev. 6 450 The Physical Review..in order to get stuff into print rapidly, does allow an unrefereed communique to go in as a ‘letter’ which more or less stakes out priority for the author.
1993 Nature 21 Oct. 689/3 Who will continue to buy ink-on-paper journals when most of the contents, admittedly in unrefereed form, have already been distributed on the networks?
2011 Reg. Guard (Oregon) 16 Oct. g49 The essay cites unrefereed analyses of herbicides in urine as evidence of poisoning, with no reference to..verifiable evidence.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1913