unforgiven
- adjective
- /ˌʌnfərˈɡɪvən/
- The feeling of being unforgiven for his past mistakes haunted him for years.
Examples
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Would I wake up tomorrow and look out my rear window at the parched garden plants and remain unforgiven?
Fiction book (2001) -
When one feels unforgiven, they perceive themselves as operating under a microscope.
Blog text (25) -
I was worried that my past would be unforgiven, that my temper and experience would be abandoned.
Fiction book (1990) -
And you will die contorted, and you will die unforgiven.
-
So when I left the confessional, I still felt unforgiven.
Fiction book (1998) -
It sounds so tragic and unforgiven.
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You could tell him the one thing that matters now: Listen, it won't be that long—unknown and unforgiven as I am, I want to live in my body somehow.
Fiction book (1994) -
After making a serious error in judgment, she felt completely unforgiven by her friends.
-
In that community, any wrongdoing is often left unforgiven, leading to lasting grudges.
Synonyms
Not forgiven and still feeling guilty
Not officially forgiven for a crime or bad act
A person who dies without having their sins forgiven
How Forgiven
Surface Forms
Morphology
unforgiven = forgiven (transparent) = un + forgive + en
The productive negating prefix 'un-' attaches to the adjective 'forgiven' to form 'unforgiven', which is a regular and transparent derivation.
Etymology
Unforgiven starts with un- meaning 'not', and the rest is forgive, which comes from for- meaning 'away' and give meaning 'to give'. So unforgiven feels like a fault that was not 'given away' or released, which is why it means 'not forgiven'.