untimely

«untimely» in Mova's school dictionary: Happening too soon, before the normal or expected time:… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

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 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

• 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

• "Met an untimely end" means died young or died violently.
• Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that never saw light.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «untimely» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.