unearned

adjective/ʌnˈɜrnd/

Frequency rank: #17,042 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

Not deserved or worked for; received without effort or merit.

Illustration for the English word “unearned”

Example sentence

He felt guilty about receiving unearned praise for work he had not actually done.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 17,001–17,100