Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not known; unfamiliar: a modern-day problem unknown in earlier times.
- adj. Not identified or ascertained: received flowers from an unknown admirer.
- adj. Not established or verified.
- adj. Not well known or widely known: an unknown artist.
- n. A person or thing that is unknown: "the abyss of the unknown” ( Helena Petrovna Blavatsky).
- n. A person who is not well known, as to the general public: cast an unknown in the starring role.
- n. Mathematics A quantity of unknown numerical value.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not known; not become an object of knowledge; not recognized, discovered, or found out.
- Unknown in this sense is often used in the predicate, followed by to: as, a man unknown to fame; a fact unknown to the public. In this use it is also often used absolntely: as, unknown to me (elliptically for it being unknown to me), he made a new contract.
- Not ascertained, with relation to extent, degree, quantity, or the like; hence, incalculable; inexpressible; immense.
- Not to be made known, expressed, or communicated.
- Not having had sexual commerce.
- n. One who or that which is unknown. An obscure individual; one without prestige.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not known; unidentified; not well known.
- n. algebra A variable (usually x, y or z) whose value is to be found.
- n. Any fact or place about which nothing is known (as in the phrase "into the unknown").
- n. A person of no identity; a nonentity
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not known; not apprehended.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not famous or acclaimed
- adj. not known before
- n. an unknown and unexplored region
- n. a variable whose values are solutions of an equation
- adj. not known to exist
- adj. not known
- adj. being or having an unknown or unnamed source
- n. anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found
Etymologies
- From un- + known, past participle of know. Cf. Old English ungecnawen. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Bailly defines it as 'the worship of the unknown, piety, godliness, humility, before the _unknown_.”
“The boy solves his problem in algebra, finding out the unknown quantity by those values which are given him; and can we not also infer something of the _unknown_ from the great panorama that passes unceasingly before us?”
“Mr Rumsfeld is the man who, in February 2002, used the phrase "unknown unknowns" to describe the main dangers in any possible confrontation with Iraq.”
“The character is modeled on Florence Birdseye, but Colley changed her name unknown reasons.”
“If he is a democrat, he is one in some weird sense of the term unknown to most of us.”
“Fear of the unknown is the most potent kind of fear, folks; and this was a large unknown space on the map for Democrats.”
NRSC dropped money into Brown race… *quietly.* - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“Fear of the unknown is an emotion that few artists throw themselves into, but every human being experiences at one time or another.”
“Fear of the unknown is the only villain, and we see remarkably little of that.”
“This unknown is the new Arco Norte which has been open about 2 months.”
“The longer-term unknown is the impact on the food chain," he said.”
The Huffington Post: Gulf Oil Spill 6 Month Anniversary: A Look At The Health Of The Ocean
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘unknown’.
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macabre
words associated with the macabre & horror.
( open list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.co...ghastly, grisly, culeus, silly, gruesome, horrid, morbid, angelic, shocking, hideous, ghoulish, frightful and 136 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
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unknown to numerous
manifold, numerous, multiplied, complicated, continuum, copy, graph, cyclostyle, polygraph, hectograph, mimeograph, multiply and 35 more...
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unk knowns
bunk, chipmunk, junkyard, funk, junket, crunk, chunk, kerplunk, hunk, preshrunk, spunk, countersunk and 53 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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#1
Words I Like
abide, sashay, microbial, scented, nature, amorphous, unknown, imagine, photogenic, soft, silken, history and 188 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Mathaphors √
Concepts o' dem numblurs; polysemy mathematicalia.
integer, factor, ∮, geometric, exponential, equation, aboutequals, variable, obtuse, triangle, angle, circle and 92 more...
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Setting the Scene: Dark and Dreary
Words that lend to the dark and dreary atmosphere of gothic literature.
dark, dreary, shroud, shrouded, veiled, skeleton, skeletal, dead, death, murky, gloomy, lugubrious and 274 more...
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peanutt10's Words
jerk, fake, dance, unknown, flabbergasted, love, tard, rebecca, can, sarcastic, helpless, overwhelmed and 10 more...
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outer darkness
black hole, abyss, lack, dearth, nothingness, vacuum, void, thin air, dark, ether, oblivion, emptiness and 16 more...
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IQXS's list
inexplicabilis, elegant, alien, offworlders, visitors, passion, unknown, terran, earthier, earthlings, ufo, spaceships and 14 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for unknown.
PossibleUnderscore I think that we whould leave some known unknowns as they are (mostly concerning space).
Also, are there things that we don't know we know? Is it possible? Jul 24, 2009
skipvia I think the opening lines of this song say it all. Jul 24, 2009
bilby "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
- Donald Rumsfeld. Jul 24, 2009