unˈanswerableness
[un-1 12.]
† 1. The character of not answering or being responsive. Also const. to. Obs.
| 1625 Bp. Hall Serm. Thanksgiving (1626) 21 How can we but hate this vnkind, and vnjust, vnanswerablenesse. a 1656 ― Rem. Wks. (1660) 26 Being conscious..of my unanswerableness to so great expectation. 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 315 The greatness of the disappointment under special service, the unworthy neglect and unanswerableness to special favours, are extraordinary provocations. |
2. The condition of not admitting of an answer.
| 1627 Perrot Tithes Ep. Ded. A ij b, That great opinion that most men have of the unanswerablenes of Mr. Seldens History of Tithes. a 1631 Donne Serm., Ps. lxxxix. 47 (1640) 267 We shall first, for our generall humiliation, consider the unanswerablenesse of this question, There is no man that lives, and shall not see death. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam Preface note, A commentary illustrative of the unanswerableness of ‘Political Justice’. 1879 W. Minto Defoe 33 He proved with provoking unanswerableness that all honest Dissenters were noways concerned in the Bill. |