unprovoked

From un- +‎ provoked.

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌnpɹəˈvoʊkt/
• Hyphenation: un‧pro‧voked

unprovoked (comparative more unprovoked, superlative most unprovoked)

1. Happening without provocation.

   Hypernyms: unprompted, unstimulated; unjustified, unjustifiable

   Near-synonym: unmotivated

   an unprovoked attack

   • 2020 September 9, “Network News: Man jailed for Hillingdon murder”, in Rail, page 25:

     A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019.

   • 2024 November 18, Nic F. Anderson, Melissa Alonso, John Miller, Sabrina Shulman and Sabrina Souza, “3 unprovoked fatal stabbings across Manhattan show failures of criminal justice and mental health systems, city’s mayor says”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Three unprovoked stabbings across Manhattan Monday morning that left two men and one woman dead show how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers, the city’s mayor said.

unprovoked (comparative more unprovoked, superlative most unprovoked)

1. Without provocation or motivation.

   He attacked me, suddenly, unprovoked.

   • 2011, Mil Millington ·, Love and Other Near Death Experiences:

     'He said, "I won't bugger you"? Really?' 'Yes, really.' 'God. That is a bit suspicious; coming out unprovoked.'

   • 2012, Lord Loveday Ememe, The Supernatural:

     The supernatural are so destructive that they have to create conditions to enable the continuous infliction of mental and physical injuries on others unprovoked.

   • 2015, Mark E. Cooper, Way of the Wolf: Shifter Legacies 1:

     So when one of our own flouts our laws to attack my house unprovoked—”

unprovoked

1. simple past and past participle of unprovoke

• “unprovoked”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.