as in unexpected
occurring before the usual or expected time
their inopportune arrival before the house was cleaned
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Recent Examples of inopportune
There’s the brooding, damaged Creasy, who confusingly passes out at inopportune moments owing to his trauma; an international setting (Italy in the book and first film, Mexico City in the 2004 movie); and a young woman who breaks through his defenses and teaches him to feel again.
—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Apr. 2026
Bunting’s injury simply came at a most inopportune time.
—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2026
Twenty-six years ago, students treated a visit by then-President Bill Clinton as a challenge, and outwitted the Secret Service by secretly rigging a banner to unfurl at an inopportune moment.
—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
26 Apr. 2026
With the midterms ahead and the economy teetering, this seems like a particularly inopportune time to have a spat with the first American pope — who also happens to come from Chicago, long one of the nation’s most Catholic cities.
—
Clarence Page,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inopportune
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Apr. 2026
Bunting’s injury simply came at a most inopportune time.
—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2026
Twenty-six years ago, students treated a visit by then-President Bill Clinton as a challenge, and outwitted the Secret Service by secretly rigging a banner to unfurl at an inopportune moment.
—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
26 Apr. 2026
With the midterms ahead and the economy teetering, this seems like a particularly inopportune time to have a spat with the first American pope — who also happens to come from Chicago, long one of the nation’s most Catholic cities.
—
Clarence Page,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inopportune
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inopportune
Adjective
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The exercise also included unexpected financial setbacks.
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The settlement that ended Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively's blockbuster legal war began with an unexpected Friday night phone call.
Adjective
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Hours after a woman was found shot to death in a Cedar Hill home early Thursday, detectives arrested her boyfriend on a murder charge, police said.
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The lake's level typically bottoms out each spring before melting snow begins refilling it through early summer.
Adjective
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According to the results, any amount of resistance exercise, even a few minutes a week, was associated with a lower risk of premature death than never lifting at all, including among people who regularly walked, ran or did other aerobic exercise.
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But when temperatures climb above 85°F, or there’s an extended period of dry heat, veggies can wilt away or drop their flowers or premature fruit, diminishing or, in the worst case, destroying the harvest.
Adjective
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From a fatal weekend crash on the I-184 Connector to a sudden summer cooldown, here’s a roundup of top stories the Idaho Statesman has published this week.
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The blockbuster rulings that dominate the news cycle each June are not sudden flashes of judicial willpower.
Adjective
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Why Basquiat endures Sirmans said there are many reasons why more than three decades after his untimely death from a drug overdose in 1988 at the age of 27, Basquiat remains one of the defining artists of the late 20th century.
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Following the untimely demise of his Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 2016, Spencer released the Spencer Gets it Lit album alongside The HITmakers in 2022.
Adjective
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That’s why my millennial children listen to that sixty-year-old music now, whereas, in 1964, only a precocious Mahler buff would have listened to the music of 1904.
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Sandeep is nothing loath to make trouble for his annoyingly precocious little sister.
Cite this Entry
“Inopportune.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inopportune. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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