unreasonable wait

USAGE SUMMARY

"unreasonable wait" is correct and usable in written English. You can use it to describe a wait that is excessively long or unjustified. Example: "The restaurant had an unreasonable wait time for a table." Alternative expressions include "excessive wait" and "unjustified delay."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Academia

Wiki

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

2 human-written examples

What Canadians do want is adequate public financing to provide comprehensive services but without an unreasonable wait to get them.

The New York Times

One recent study showed a median time to NGS results of 91 days (range 43 243) (Weiss et al, 2013), which remains an unreasonable wait time for the patient with treatment-refractory cancer.

British Journal of Cancer

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

58 human-written examples

Last week the Labour MP Meg Hillier complained at justice questions in the Commons about the "unreasonable waits" for constituents, including one case already listed for next May.

The Guardian

After eight weeks of campaigning and years of buildup, it doesn't seem unreasonable to wait a week to find out who won a very close election, or to take a few weeks to make sure the result is accurate.

The Guardian

It is unreasonable to wait for the arrival of the packets with little importance especially in a wireless network with a bad channel state.

EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing

If you want to manipulate someone, you should first make an unreasonable request, wait for the person to reject you, and then follow it up by a more reasonable request.

WikiHow

That tallies with an NHS-funded audit of the talking therapies programme last year by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which found that "a minority of patients still have unacceptably long waits" for assessment and starting therapy, and that one in three patients thought they were forced to wait an unreasonable length of time before having their first treatment.

The Guardian

"Poverty in most of African countries hinders justice". He says it is unreasonable to keep people waiting for years on death row as "the trauma and the torture is too much".

BBC

It's unreasonable to assume that waiting for the Great Recession to sputter to a close will allow American higher education to return to time-tested financial models now openly fraying at the edges.

Huffington Post

Take a reasonable profit and do not wait for an unreasonable loss.

The Washington Post

"And it is not unreasonable for us to say wait and see, once the debate is over, where we stand".

The New York Times

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Pair the phrase with specific nouns like "time" or "period" to add clarity to technical reports.

Common error

Avoid using "unreasonable wait" in objective reporting unless you are quoting a specific party or have established a standard for what a 'reasonable' wait would be. Without context, it can sound overly emotional.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "unreasonable wait" functions primarily as a noun phrase consisting of the adjective 'unreasonable' and the noun 'wait'. According to Ludwig, it is used to quantify the qualitative aspect of a delay, effectively acting as a subject or an object in a sentence to express grievance or critique.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

News & Media

60%

Science

25%

Academia

10%

Less common in

Wiki

3%

Business

2%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "unreasonable wait" is a highly effective phrase for describing delays that fall outside the bounds of what is fair or acceptable. According to Ludwig AI, the phrase is grammatically correct and most prevalent in professional journalism and scientific studies related to public services. While the exact phrase "unreasonable wait" appears less frequently than its verbal counterparts (such as "it is unreasonable to wait"), it remains a powerful tool for formal writing. To maintain precision, writers should consider the context of the delay; for instance, using "<a href="/s/excessive+delay" target="_blank" rel="alternative">excessive delay" might be more appropriate for logistics, while "unreasonable wait" perfectly captures the human frustration in a social or medical setting.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

excessive delay

Focuses more on the mechanical act of being held up rather than the experience of waiting

unjustified wait

Emphasizes the lack of a valid reason for the duration of time passed

undue delay

Often used in legal contexts to describe timeframes that violate rights or procedures

unacceptable waiting time

Broadens the scope to the general period allocated for a service

inordinate wait

Uses a more sophisticated adjective to imply a wait that is out of proportion

unreasonably long wait

Adds an intensifier to emphasize the length specifically

prolonged wait

Suggests a wait that has been extended beyond the typical timeframe

lengthy delay

A more common and slightly less judgmental way to describe a long hold-up

interminable wait

Uses hyperbole to suggest a wait that feels like it will never end

unnecessary wait

Suggests that the waiting could have been avoided entirely with better efficiency

FAQs

How to use "unreasonable wait" in a sentence?

You can use it to describe an excessive delay, for example: "The patients complained about the "unreasonable wait" for their test results."

What can I say instead of "unreasonable wait"?

You can use alternatives like "<a href="/s/excessive+delay" target="_blank" rel="alternative">excessive delay", "<a href="/s/inordinate+wait" target="_blank" rel="alternative">inordinate wait" or "<a href="/s/unacceptable+waiting+time" target="_blank" rel="alternative">unacceptable waiting time" depending on the context.

Is "unreasonable wait" formal enough for a legal document?

While it is used in neutral and formal settings, legal documents often prefer more specific terms such as "<a href="/s/undue+delay" target="_blank" rel="alternative">undue delay" or "failure to act within a reasonable time."

What is the difference between "unreasonable wait" and "unreasonably waiting"?

The phrase "unreasonable wait" is a noun phrase referring to the period of time, whereas "unreasonably waiting" would describe the act of the person waiting in an illogical manner.