unduly

UK/ʌnˈdjuːli/US/ʌnˈdjuːli/

adverbC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,830 of 15,258neutral

Unduly means more than is reasonable. Unduly harsh, not unduly worried, unduly influenced.

It appears most in the negative, where not unduly worried is British understatement for quite worried. In law, undue influence is a defined ground for setting aside a will or a contract, and unduly lenient sentences can be referred for review.

Definitions of unduly

1adverbundulyMore than is reasonable.C1
“The rent they were asking seemed unduly high for such a small flat.”

unduly is a degree.

Also accepted in games: unreasonably

Where it comes from

Un- plus duly, from due, from Old French deu, owed, from Latin debere, to owe.

Middle English
duely
English
duly
English, today
unduly

Built from

duweliche · Middle English — rightly, properly

From undue + -ly or un- + duly. duly comes from Middle English duely, dewly, dulyche, dueliche, duweliche (“rightly, properly”), equivalent to due + -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

unduly in the wild

Jury tampering is the crime of unduly attempting to influence the composition or decisions of a jury during the course of a trial.
Jury tampering
An error-tolerant design (or human-error-tolerant design) is one that does not unduly penalize user or human errors.
Error-tolerant design
A person being unduly influenced may become withdrawn, depressive and passive.
Undue influence
However, they are a tool best used by experienced handlers; used improperly they may unduly restrict the horse's movement or cause an accident.
Side reins
Right-wing critics have accused the IDGR of engaging in unduly exposing and defaming individuals on the political right, and of being associated with far-left extremism.
Informationsdienst gegen Rechtsextremismus

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the duweliche family

duly unduly

unduly — used about once every 7,127 pages · #10,830 · point at the bar for the others

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