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# unforgiving

adjective (unforgiving; more unforgiving, most unforgiving)

«unforgiving» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. An unforgiving person does not forgive people easily and keeps blaming them for wrongs they did. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#m1)
2. An unforgiving place, weather or task is very hard and does not allow any mistakes, as an unforgiving desert or an unforgiving mountain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#m2)

### In the lessons

In ethics and RE, being unforgiving is contrasted with forgiveness, which Christians and many faiths teach as good; in Bible parables an unforgiving servant is punished. In adventure stories and geography, deserts, seas and cliffs are unforgiving — a small mistake can be deadly. Phrases: «unforgiving heat», «an unforgiving climate», «the unforgiving servant».

### Examples

- He was unforgiving and never spoke to his brother again. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#x1)
- In the parable, the unforgiving servant would not cancel a small debt. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#x2)
- The desert is unforgiving; without water you cannot survive. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#x3)
- The mountain was unforgiving to climbers who did not plan well. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#x4)
- Exams can feel unforgiving: one wrong answer loses the mark. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#x5)
- She tried not to be unforgiving when her friend apologised. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/#x6)

### Note

«Un-» + «forgiving». Do not confuse with «unforgivable», which describes a wrong that is too bad to forgive. Unforgiving describes the person (or place); unforgivable describes the act.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «unforgiving» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unforgiving/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«unforgiving» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/unforgiving.html) on Mova free.