untimely
part of speech
adjective (untimely)
meaning for a pupil
1) Happening too soon, before the normal or expected time: an untimely death. tree →
2) Happening at a bad or unsuitable time: an untimely interruption. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In Job and Psalms it refers to a baby born dead or too early, who never saw the light. Interpretation: Job wishes he had not been born, and the Psalm uses the same picture for the wicked. Tradition reads this as showing the depth of suffering and the fragility of life. In the primary lessons: In formal language, news and stories «untimely death» is a gentle, formal way to say someone died young. In everyday life an untimely phone call or joke comes at the wrong moment. In stories it hints at sadness or bad luck.
examples
- Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that never saw light. (Writings JOB.3.16, JPS 1917) tree →
- Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away; like the untimely births of a woman, that have not seen the sun. (Writings PSA.58.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- The singer's untimely death shocked his fans. tree →
- The rain was untimely — right in the middle of sports day. tree →
- His untimely joke made everyone uncomfortable. tree →
- An untimely frost killed the spring flowers. tree →
- The phone rang at an untimely moment. tree →
- Her untimely exit left the team short of players. tree →
- “I am no party to this untimely journey,” he said angrily. tree →
note
Though it ends in -ly, it is an adjective, not an adverb. Opposite: timely (at the right time). Formal and a bit old-fashioned; often used as a soft way to speak of a death.
In the corpora
- Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that never saw light.
- "Met an untimely end" means died young or died violently.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «untimely» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.