unwisdom
nounEtymology
PIE word *né From Middle English unwisdom (“lack of wisdom, foolishness; an instance of this”), from Old English unwīsdōm, from un- (prefix denoting absence or negation of something) + wīsdōm (“wisdom”) (from Proto-Germanic *wīsadōmaz (“wise judgment, wisdom”), from *wīsaz (“knowledgeable, wise”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to know; to see”)) + *-dōmaz (suffix forming nouns denoting the condition or state of [the suffixed word]) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”))). The word was apparently obsolete in the 18th century, but was revived from the 19th century and possibly popularized by its use in the works of the Scottish author and philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881): see the quotations. By surface analysis, un- (prefix denoting a lack of something) + wisdom.
- inherited from unwīsdōm
Definitions
Lack of wisdom
Lack of wisdom; unwise action or conduct; folly, foolishness.
- Eccle[siasticus] 21. 15. […] Forſooth vnvviſedome is, &c. [i.e., which is plenteous in euill.] Sixtus [Pope Sixtus V] and the Louans, reading it amiſſe.
- [T]he French government has committed the unwisdom of persecuting the Saint-Simonians. Persecution is always a bungler's craft, that in trying to stop one hole opens two.
An instance of a lack of wisdom
An instance of a lack of wisdom; a foolish act.
- For hereby are fostered, fed into gigantic bulk, all manner of Unwisdoms, poison-fruits; till, as we way, the life-tree everywhere is made a upas-tree, deadly Unwisdom overshadowing all things; […]
- Is the fall of a stone certain: and the fruit of an unwisdom doubtful?
A foolish or unwise being or force.
- [W]hat great thing ever happened in this world, a world understood always to be made and governed by a Providence and Wisdom, not by an Unwisdom, without meaning somewhat?
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for unwisdom. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA