View synonyms for unearned

unearned

[ uhn-urnd ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

not received in exchange for labor or services; not gained by lawful work or employment.
not earned; earn; unmerited; undeserved:
unearned promotion.
not yet earned: earn:
Lenders are not permitted to take borrowers' unearned wages as collateral.

unearned

/ ʌnˈɜːnd /

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Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; un- ¹, earn ¹, -ed ²

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As a white, educated, Western, middle-class male, I possess most of the unearned privilege the world has to offer.

Here, however, the novel ends with unearned sentimentality and cheap contrivance.

And often times this very hard work is done under the most difficult of circumstances—with unearned stress of the worst kind.

To those earning income; not to those sitting on unearned wealth.

They were mostly unearned windfalls collected from gambling on markets that were rigged to rise.

Again, earned incomes appear to represent lower ability to pay than unearned ones.

Death not unearned, nor yet a novelty in this house; Let him make talk in hell concerning Iphigenia.

The inheritance of unearned wealth quite frequently proves a curse rather than a blessing.

He pulls himself out of many a predicament and obtains many an unearned morsel in this way.

And it was plain to me that this girl was no beggar, no passive accepter of bounties unearned from anybody.

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