unprovoked
/ˌʌnpɹəˈvoʊkt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.83 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Happening without provocation.
adv
Without provocation or motivation.
verb
simple past and past participle of unprovoke
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: unmotivated"
- "an unprovoked attack"
- "A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019."
- "Three unprovoked stabbings across Manhattan Monday morning that left two men and one woman dead show how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers, the city’s mayor said."
- "He attacked me, suddenly, unprovoked."
- "'He said, "I won't bugger you"? Really?' 'Yes, really.' 'God. That is a bit suspicious; coming out unprovoked.'"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English provoked English unprovoked From un- + provoked.
Inflected Forms
more unprovoked (comparative)
most unprovoked (superlative)