Etymologically
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unreliable

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌʌn.ɹɪˈlaɪ.ə.bl̩/, /ʌn.ɹɪˈlaɪ.ə.bl̩/[1]
  • US: /ˌʌn.ɹəˈlaɪ.ə.bəl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + reliable, with the negative prefix.[2][3][4][5][6] The OED notes that unreliability is recorded slightly earlier, from 1809, also in Coleridge.[2] Reliable, first recorded in Scotland in the 1560s, is formed from rely and -able;[3] rely goes back to Old French relier (“to fasten; to assemble”), from Latin religō (“to fasten, bind fast”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

That cannot or should not be relied on: 1810, in the notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.[2][7] Weekley calls it a word coined by Coleridge;[8] Etymonline gives a first record in 1835, from Fanny Kemble,[3] and Dictionary.com dates it 1830–40.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single meaning, "not to be depended on".[2][3] Like reliable itself, it was sometimes criticized in the 19th century,[2] the objection to reliable being that it used -able in an irregular way.[2][3] Weekley says that ignorant objections were often made to it, and that De Quincey proposed unrelyuponable as "more correct English".[8] The Shorter Oxford also gives the senses "inconsistent, erratic".[4]

Timeline

  • 1560s – reliable, in Scotland.[3]
  • 1809 – unreliability, in Coleridge's letters.[2]
  • 1810 – unreliable, in Coleridge's notebooks.[2][7]
  • 1835 – used by Fanny Kemble, Etymonline's first record.[3]
  • mid 19th century – unreliableness.[4]
  • early 20th century – unreliably.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not to be relied on; not trustworthy or dependable: an unreliable source, Her old van was too unreliable for long trips.[9][7][2][10]
  2. Not consistent; erratic.[4]

Word family

  • unreliability
  • unreliably

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt