unwavering meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

unwavering

adj

UK /(ˌ)ʌnˈweɪvəɹɪŋ/ · US /ˌənˈweɪvəɹɪŋ/

Etymology From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + wavering (“being in doubt, indecisive”).

› Not wavering.

Always on course and steady.

And on this occasion she [Lady Mary, later Mary I of England] wrote the king a letter (which these noblemen seem to be the carriers of) chiefly to shew how unwavering she continued in her formerly declared purpose about religion; […]1721, John Strype, “The Lady Mary’s Concern with the King and Council, for Retaining Mass in Her Family. […]”, in Ecclesiastical Memorials; Relating Chiefly to Religion, and Its Reformation, under the Reigns of King Henry VIII. King Edward VI. and Queen Mary the First: […], volume III, London: […] [J. Barfield] for Samuel Bagster, […], published 1816, →OCLC, book II, page 7:
[B]y that winding passage, to that bower / I now will go—all objects there will teach me / Unwavering love, and singleness of heart.[1800?], S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “The Night-scene: A Dramatic Fragment”, in Sibylline Leaves: A Collection of Poems, London: Rest Fenner, […], published 1817, →OCLC, page 140:

1 more example

[T]he religious orders who were most unwavering in their allegiance to the papacy, were pressing their opposition to the divorce into rebellion.1856, James Anthony Froude, “The Catholic Martyrs”, in History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth, volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], →OCLC, page 341:

Not doubting or unsure; decisive, firm, resolute.

For, foraſmuch as Faith properly ſo called is nothing but an unvvavering Aſſent to ſome Doctrine propoſed upon the ground of infallible Teſtimony, there muſt be ſome Reaſon to perſuade us that that Teſtimony is infallible; […]1713, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “A Brief Discourse of the True Grounds of the Certainty of Faith in Points of Religion”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], →OCLC, page 579: