untimely meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

untimely

adj

/ʌnˈtaɪmli/

Etymology From Middle English untymely (also earlier untimliche), equivalent to un- + timely. First attested in the early 13th century. Compare Middle Danish utimelig, Old English untídlic (“unseasonable”).

At an inopportune time.

untimely remarks

Early; premature.

an untimely death
The heroes of literary as well as civil history have been very often no less remarkable for what they have suffered, than for what they have atchieved^([sic]); and volumes have been written only to enumerate the miseries of the learned, and relate their unhappy lives, and untimely deaths.c. 1779–81, Samuel Johnson, “Savage”, in The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, volume 3, published 1794:

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Untimely blossom! Poor, impatient thing, / ⁠That, starting rashly from the sheltering mould, / ⁠Bravest the peevish wind and sullen cold, / ⁠Mistaking thine own ardors for the spring1898, Florence Earle Coates, Before the Hour:

Synonyms: untimeless, ill-timed, intempestive, inopportune, mistimed, timeless, unseasonable, untime, untimely, untimeous
Antonyms: opportune, timely
Derived terms: untimelily, untimeliness
Related terms: untimeliness, inopportunely
Hypernyms: inexpedient, unsuitable
Hyponyms: overdue, premature

untimely

adv

Prematurely.

Tell thee, Macduffe was from his Mothers womb / Untimely ript.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene viii], page 151:
They light fires under fruit trees to keep the fruit from falling untimely.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 215:

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Couldst thou go from us, in thy beauteous June, / Leaving a sense of joy untimely perished, / ⁠Of music stilled too soon?1916, Florence Earle Coates, In Memory of Caroline Furness Jayne: