unrequited
Americanadjective
-
not returned or reciprocated.
unrequited love.
-
not avenged or retaliated.
an unrequited wrong.
-
not repaid or satisfied.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of unrequited
Explanation
Unrequited is used almost exclusively in the context of romantic love. If you love someone and they don't love you back––that, my friend, is a case of unrequited love. Unrequited love is so painful, most people feel they are the first person in history to experience it, but the word unrequited has in fact been around since the 1520s, when it was invented, like many good words, to talk about money. It derived from re- 'back' + the Middle English quite 'pay up.'
Vocabulary lists containing unrequited
Dissed List: Breakup Words for Valentine's Day
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)
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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.
This is something far more daffy and useless: The brouhaha over unrequited affections between Seattle Mariners at the World Baseball Classic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026
The 24-year-old, who is a counter-tenor at the Vienna State Opera, took the title with the song Wasted Love, an tempestuous electro-ballad about unrequited love.
From BBC • May 17, 2025
I half-expected a frame-for-frame modern retelling of the story of two unrequited lovers, set against the backdrop of Mexico’s Revolutionary War.
From Salon • Jan. 28, 2025
Some birds encapsulated different aspects of our humanity, so unrequited love with Alexa and Mikhail, or Jimmy who belongs in his own sitcom, or Cactus with her precarious journey.
From Salon • Jan. 9, 2025
For a long time we went everywhere together, but aside from that, my love was unrequited until Peter crossed my path.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
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.
