unrecognizable
Britishadjective
Explanation
Anything that's unrecognizable can't be identified, often because it has changed so much. If your brother's Halloween costume is so elaborate that you can't even tell it's him under all that makeup, he's unrecognizable. This adjective is often used for things that have been badly damaged: "After the hurricane's destruction, the town was unrecognizable." You can also use it in a more positive way: "Once my bike was repaired and painted it was completely unrecognizable!" Unrecognizable comes from the prefix un-, or "not," and the Latin recognoscere, "recall to mind or know again."
Vocabulary lists containing unrecognizable
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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.
Perhaps, just like in the food chain, there will be another bigger predator that takes over the city, a secret third thing that turns this generic Roblox neighborhood into something even more unrecognizable.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
People tell me all the time that they’re done with college sports, that it’s become mercenary and unrecognizable, and yet the numbers keep going up, up, up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
When asked whether he was able to recognize any facial features, Byers said: "No, there was a quite a bit of decomposition to where skin slippage...made it unrecognizable."
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
South Korea group-stage match, it was apparent that the neighborhood would be unrecognizable by kickoff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
She blinked at herself slowly, but in the mirror she looked the same: unrecognizable.
From "Ash" by Malinda Lo
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.
