According to various English dictionaries of general and special use, the word “unwarranted” can be defined as “lacking adequate or official support.” The term is broadly used in the legislative sphere as the adjective often concerns allegations that lack proof or any justification.
Explanation:
The word “unwarranted” as an adjective entered the dictionary of the English language at the end of the 16th century, deriving from the noun “warrant” and the prefix “un,” which adds negative connotation to the word. Modern thesaurus suggests three major types of a dictionary entry for this word. The first one concerns the feature of incapability of being explained of justified and is followed by such synonyms as “insupportable” and “unjustifiable.” The second type of entry implies the absence of basis, proof, or any appropriate reason, bearing the same meaning as the words “baseless,” “groundless,” and “unfounded.” The third entry concerns the rather legislative definition of having no justification or authorization, and it goes along with such entries as “unjustified” and “undue.”
The word “unwarranted” is also a part of a legislative word corpus, and it can be considered as the juridical term. Thus, although this adjective may be used in practically every linguistic sphere, it would be more appropriate to use the word in the context of various legal affairs.
For a better understanding of the word’s linguistic environment, one should examine the terms it collocates with in the speech. In the case of the word “unwarranted,” it quite frequently collocates with such nouns as “assumption,” “conclusion,” “invasion,” and various purely political terms. Hence, as the environment of the words consists of linguistic items with legal connotations, the word itself is also better to be used in legal spheres.