unexplained
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Something that's unexplained isn't known or made clear, like an unexplained creaking sound coming from the attic of your grandparents' creepy house. Anything without a clear reason for happening or existing is unexplained, whether it's the mysterious crack in the kitchen window or some lines of movie dialogue spoken in a language you don't understand (and without subtitles). When you explain something, you describe what it is, how it works, or why it exists — and then it's explained. Add the prefix un-, meaning "not," and you get unexplained.
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.
Why we’re to care about this apparent flash of horror, if not of conscience, remains unexplained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
The scoping study said assembly members had given examples of constituents "who have experienced significant unexplained increases in service charges that were crippling in their effect".
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
That invitation to suspicion does not disappear when the government itself leaves something unexplained.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
"While historians have occasionally noted these remarks, they have generally treated them as unexplained references," said Prof Licence.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
Some of them were saving their food in case things got worse, and others simply didn’t want to sell any more for unexplained reasons.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
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.
