unconnected
Americanadjective
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not connected; not joined together or attached.
an unconnected wire.
-
lacking coherence.
an unconnected account of the accident.
adjective
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not linked; separate or independent
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disconnected or incoherent
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of unconnected
Explanation
Unconnected means not joined or attached to anything. If a teacher says the ideas in your research paper seem unconnected, you’ll have to go back and smooth them out. If you’re unconnected to the Internet, you can’t get online. The word unconnected has many usages. If an island is unconnected to the mainland, there's no bridge. If you feel unconnected to your neighbors, you pass each other like ships in the night. If you can’t get a job because you don’t know anyone, you’re unconnected. Events can be unconnected, too — you might say that your grumpiness is unconnected to the bad grade you got on your math test. The Latin root of unconnected is conectere, "join together."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Bankruptcy cannot be the legacy of these Games,” Rodriguez wrote, without elaborating on what she meant, though L.A.’s top budget official recently projected a deficit, unconnected to the Olympics, of “several hundred million” dollars.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
The novel’s second portion jumps forward to offer Rustom’s story, one that initially seems unconnected even as it grounds the book thematically.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
“Expensive Basketball” is an encyclopedic romp through hoops history, footnotes strewn throughout like so many perimeter ball screens, threads blissfully unconnected.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
“It’s possible that these are all isolated incidents which are completely unconnected, other than the timing of the banks fessing up to them.”
From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025
He wonders how his parents had done it, leaving their respective families behind, seeing them so seldom, dwelling unconnected, in a perpetual state of expectation, of longing.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
