unforeseen
Britishadjective
Explanation
Something unforeseen is something that could not be predicted and was not expected. It's a surprise. If something was foreseen, you saw it coming and it wasn't a surprise. Something unforeseen is the opposite: no one saw it coming. Accidents are usually unforeseen events: no one expects to get in a car or bike accident on a given day. Winning the lottery, since it's so unlikely, would be an unforeseen event. If something was unanticipated or out of the blue, it was unforeseen. Unforeseen events can be good or bad, but they’re all surprises.
Vocabulary lists containing unforeseen
Power Prefix: un-
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World Without Fish
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: un-
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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.
While the broad move toward cord cutting and a la carte programming has put significant pressure on pay-TV providers, it has also created a plethora of unforeseen problems for streaming services.
From MarketWatch • May 28, 2026
The main cause was "an unforeseen change in the radio frequency environment occurring after take-off," Skymagic said, triggering some drones "to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy".
From BBC • May 26, 2026
His intense focus can help take the emotion out of any unforeseen circumstance.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
“It’s more complicated now because China has moved toward formalizing these rules. The threat is omnipresent and it’s sometimes used in unforeseen ways.”
From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026
There was another demographic change, however, unforeseen and long-gestating, that did drastically reduce crime in the 1990s.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
