unknowing
Americanadjective
adjective
-
not knowing; ignorant
-
without knowledge or unaware (of)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unknowing
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at un- 1, knowing
Explanation
Unknowing means not having all the information you need to understand something. A bank robber's unknowing accomplice might drive the getaway car without realizing that's what he's doing. A teacher might be worried about an approaching storm and the possibility of tornadoes, while her unknowing class calmly completes an assignment. And you may try to protect the unknowing eyes of your little brother from the dead squirrel in the street because you know he'll get upset. There's a kind of innocence to the lack of knowledge that results in being unknowing. In the 14th century, there was also a verb, unknow, that meant "fail to recognize."
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.
The scheme stretched from 1992 to 2003, and involved numerous unknowing clients including Murrin, Southern District of New York prosecutors said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
He references Susan Sontag’s famous essay “Notes on Camp” to say there are two kinds of camp humor, one that is unknowing and another that is knowing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
Much of “Flour” is concerned with the woman’s conversation with her driver about a parable from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas that he is translating from Coptic—a tale, he says, about emptiness and unknowing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
"It was stressful as it relates to the unknowing" of what was going to happen, Hardwick said of the shutdown, adding that people were "annoyed and frustrated" by the impasse.
From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2025
Her face seemed to float in a cloud of unknowing.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
