unavailable

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + available.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unavailing, ineffectual: 1549, in Coverdale's translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first meaning followed the older sense of available, "effective, of use", which that word had from the mid-15th century.^[3] Johnson (1755) still defined unavailable as "useless; vain".^[5] The modern sense, not able to be obtained or used, is recorded from 1855,^[2][3] following the sense "at one's disposal", which available had developed by 1827.^[3] The old sense is now archaic,^[4] and Etymonline notes that unavailing has kept it.^[3] Today the word is also used of people who cannot be reached or are not free, as in unavailable for comment.^[6]

Timeline

• 1549 – unavailing, ineffectual (now archaic).^[2][4]
• 1855 – not available, not able to be used.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not able to be obtained, used or reached; not available: The manager was unavailable all afternoon.^[6][7][2]
2. (archaic) Unavailing; ineffectual.^[7][4][2]

Word family

• unavailability

Related words

• avail
• unavailing

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster