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unrivalled

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Etymology and origin of the English word unrivalled

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1591 More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin rivus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rīvus
Latin rīvālis
English rival
English unrivalled
From the same root
English ria ← rīvus
Latin dērīvō ← rīvus
Latin rīvulus ← rīvus
English rivalry ← rival

Pronunciation

  • /ʌnˈraɪvəld/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English un- (“not”) + rival + -ed, from the past participle of the verb.[2][3][4][5] The verb, from about 1600, comes from the noun,[3][2] which is from Latin rivalis (“a rival in love; neighbour”), originally "of the same brook", from rivus (“brook”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having no rival or competitor: 1591, in the 1989 edition of the OED;[6] Etymonline gives the 1590s and Dictionary.com 1585–95.[3][5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dates it to 1591, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1607.[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) gave two senses, "having no competitor" and "having no peer or equal", quoting Pope: "Honour forbid! at whose unrival’d shrine, / Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign".[8] The second is the current sense, matchless or incomparable.[1][2][4]

Timeline

  • 1591 – having no rival or competitor.[6][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having no rival or equal; matchless or incomparable: The library has an unrivalled collection of early maps.[1][2][4][9]

Usage notes

Unrivalled is the British spelling;[1][5][2] American English writes unrivaled.[1][5][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  2. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Unrivalled.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/unrivalled. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·