unphilosophical
- adjective
- /ʌnˌfɪləˈsɑfɪkəl/
- When he lost the match, his unphilosophical reaction surprised everyone in the room.
Examples
-
Instead of taking a moment to reflect, he responded in an unphilosophical manner, showing frustration over the minor issue.
-
Her unphilosophical attitude towards failure made it difficult for her to cope with setbacks.
-
"Enlarging the sphere" seems an odd—and rather unphilosophical—way to answer the problem of faction, and to see how it works we will have to adopt some of Publius's assumptions.
Academic text (1993)
Synonyms
Not willing to be patient with other people
Antonyms
How Philosophical
Surface Forms
Morphology
unphilosophical = philosophical (semi-transparent) = un + philosophy + ical
The formation un- + philosophical is morphologically regular, but the adjectival sense 'philosophical' meaning 'calm/accepting' is an idiomatic extension from 'philosophy', so learners may not infer the sense directly from 'philosophy'.
Etymology
Unphilosophical begins with un- meaning 'not' and links to philosophy, made from philo- 'love' and sophia 'wisdom'. So being unphilosophical is like being 'not wise' in the calm, patient way of a philosopher, which helps explain being impatient or upset when things go wrong.