Undeservedly

adv. [UN-¹ 11; cf. prec.]

  1.  Without having deserved (to suffer); without contributory fault or demerit; unjustly.

  In group (a) referring to the subject of the clause or concept, in (b) to the object of the action.

  (a)  1549.  Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Pet. i. 3. Where you suffre suche thynges vndeseruedly, you shall … receyue a great fruyte of your fayth.

1583.  Melbancke, Philotimus, U iv b. With these daungers vndeseruedlye was noble Bellerophon distreste.

1652.  Gaule, Magastrom., 289. Iulian … so died,… cursing … the Star-gazers and himselfe, for adhering to them, not undeservedly.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 474, ¶ 6. A yearly Relief of my undeservedly necessitous Neighbours.

1809–10.  Coleridge, Friend (1865), 29. That I may have attracted notice to a writer undeservedly forgotten.

1877.  E. Venables, in Dict. Chr. Biog., I. 291/1. Whose reputation for orthodoxy was not undeservedly low.

  (b)  1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 264. [He] therfore ascribeth vnto vs Tyranny, extortion and disturbaunce of the Clergie, but vndeseruedly.

1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 51/1. Oftentimes Princes vndeseruedlye punishe theire Chyrurgians.

1625.  Hart, Anat. Ur., I. iv. 43. He had wrongfully and vndeseruedly bene offended with me.

1656.  Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini, Pol. Touchstone (1674), 269. A perfect Braggadochio, [they] … do not undeservedly personate … by a Spaniard.

1901.  Athenæum, 27 July, 115/1. This curt reference makes undeservedly light of Mr. Langley’s immense labours.

  2.  Without desert or merit; in an unmerited degree.

  In (b) referring to the object of the action.

  (a)  1610.  Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 620. There were kings in Israel, for some … predictions of theirs, may not undeservedly be called Prophets.

1651.  Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., iv. § 1. 58. The same Law … is also wont to be called Divine, nor undeservedly.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 302, ¶ 5. Many of the prevailing Passions of Mankind do undeservedly pass under the Name of Religion.

1771.  Luckombe, Hist. Print., 464. The great number of Boxes which they undeservedly occupy.

1835.  Court Mag., VI. 55/1. S. Filippo Neri has a high character, and not undeservedly.

  (b)  1603.  Florio, Montaigne, I. li. 167. Vnworthily and vndeservedly to bestow on whom we list the … loftiest titles.

1700.  Dryden, Fables, Ded. One of those Athletick Brutes whom undeservedly we call Heroes.