different between uninhabitable vs unhabitable

English

Etymology

un- +? inhabitable

Adjective

uninhabitable (comparative more uninhabitable, superlative most uninhabitable)

1. Not fit for people (or other living things) to live in; not able to be inhabited.

   Synonyms: unlivable, unoccupiable, (obsolete) unhabitable

   Antonym: inhabitable

   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, Scene 1,^[1]

     Though this island seem to be desert,— […]

     Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,—

   • 1937, George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, Penguin, 1962, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 53,^[2]

     Then there is the misery of leaking roofs and oozing walls, which in winter makes some rooms almost uninhabitable.

Derived terms

• uninhabitably

Translations

English

Etymology

un- +? habitable

Adjective

unhabitable (comparative more unhabitable, superlative most unhabitable)

1. (obsolete) Not fit for people to live in; not able to be inhabited.

   Synonym: uninhabitable

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: E. Dod, Book 1, Chapter 6, p. 24,^[1]

     They conceived the torrid Zone unhabitable, and so made frustrate the goodliest part of the earth. But we now know ’tis very well empeopled, and the habitation thereof esteemed so happy, that some have made it the proper seat of Paradise, and beene so farre from judging it unhabitable that they have made it the first habitation of all.

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, p. ,^[2]

     […] I could hardly have nam’d a Place in the unhabitable Part of the World where I could have been cast more to my Advantage:

Translations