ppl. a. (UN-1 10.)

1

1713.  Rowe, Jane Shore, IV. Accursed Jealousy! O merciless, wild and unforgiving Fiend!

2

1784.  Cowper, Task, II. 247. Chatham … Secur’d it by an unforgiving frown.

3

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xi. I have brought the vengeance of an unforgiving devil upon this helpless creature.

4

1880.  ‘Ouida,’ Moths, II. 165. We are an unforgiving race.

5

  absol.  1819.  Shelley, Cenci, V. iii. 105. Canst Thou forgive even the unforgiving?

6

1845.  [see UNFORGIVEN 2].

7

  Hence Unforgivingness.

8

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, VII. xlvii. 184. That cruelty and unforgivingness, which … have no example.

9

1850.  L. Hunt, Autobiog., II. xi. 55. An extraordinary mixture of … good nature with unforgivingness.

10

1887.  Mary E. Burt, Browning’s Women, iv. 52. Unforgivingness beyond a certain limit is a base crime, and one in which no manly man or womanly woman can possibly indulge.

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