unsure English · revision 39889

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1400, unseur}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ʌnˈʃɔː(r)/, /ʌnʃʊə(r)/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ʌnˈʃʊr/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed in Middle English from the prefix [[un-]], not, and the adjective [[sure]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Not safe against attack, exposed to danger: about 1400, in the alliterative ''Alexander'',^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and in Etymonline also of a person lacking certainty.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 15th century the word developed most of its senses: "unsafe, liable to give way" (1426, in Lydgate),^(OED 2026) "dependent on chance, precarious" (about 1412, in Hoccleve),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) "unreliable" and "doubtful, not fixed" (both about 1445, in Pecock),^(OED 2026) and, of people, "lacking certainty or confidence" (1412–20, in Lydgate).^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it only as "not fixed; not certain", quoting Shakespeare's "What's to come is still unsure".^(Johnson 1755) The sense "not safe from attack" is now obsolete except in dialect,^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) and the English Dialect Dictionary records "uncertain; insecure, unsafe" in Scotland, Ireland, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Lincolnshire.^(Wright 1898) The modern sense, uncertain about something or about oneself, continues the 15th-century use for people.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – not safe against attack.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1412 – uncertain, precarious.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1412–20 – of a person, lacking certainty.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1426 – unsafe, liable to give way.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1445 – unreliable; doubtful.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1633 – marked by lack of assurance.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not [[certain]] about something; [[doubtful]]: ''He was unsure which road led back to the village.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Lacking [[confidence]] in oneself: ''unsure of herself''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # Not [[reliable]] or firmly fixed; [[precarious]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sure]]

+ * [[insecure]]

+ * [[uncertain]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}