unregenerate
adjective
Molly WorthenBarbara KayFrank DefordWilliam StyronJustin Southern
Robert Reid
Did you know?
There was a time when the adjective "regenerate" had more to do with being spiritually reborn than with being physically re-created; in the 16th century, "regenerate" was used of someone spiritually reborn. By the late 1500s, English speakers had added "un-" to "regenerate" to describe someone who refused to accept spiritual reformation. Since then, "unregenerate" has taken on a life of its own, gaining the extended specific meanings of "unconverted to a particular doctrinaire viewpoint," "persisting in a reactionary stand," or just plain "stubborn." Both "regenerate" and "unregenerate" trace back to the Latin genus, meaning "birth" or "descent."
Examples of unregenerate in a Sentence
Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 18 Oct. 2021
One stalks about the room like a criminal imprisoned, unregenerate, incorrigible.
—Patricia Highsmith, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2021
An actress, artist and, in an earlier life, unregenerate gadabout, Ms. Subkoff seemed intent on presenting the world with a shiny, self-assured and elegantly gift-wrapped version of herself.
—New York Times, 14 Nov. 2019
Dictionary Entries Near unregenerate
Cite this Entry
“Unregenerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unregenerate. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
unregenerate
adjective
Share