unacknowledged
Britishadjective
Explanation
If something's unacknowledged, it hasn't been recognized or made public, like your unacknowledged fear of the dark — it exists, but you've never admitted or even spoken about it. Unacknowledged things have been ignored or disregarded. And it's the same when a person is unacknowledged: she deserves to be recognized for some accomplishment or quality, but she hasn't been praised for it. A brilliant artist who isn't able to sell many paintings might be an unacknowledged genius, for example. This word comes from acknowledge, a combination of the Middle English aknow, "show one's knowledge," and knowlechen, "admit."
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.
So let’s examine the unacknowledged issues with “innovative” alternative investments.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026
Yet all of these icons are building on the foundations laid by the unacknowledged millions who came to Britain over many centuries.
From BBC • Aug. 9, 2025
Eriksen notes that there are unacknowledged trade-offs in many of these new code provisions.
From Slate • Feb. 28, 2025
It sets out to redress an imbalance — that the real-life Purdy, a nurse, was long unacknowledged for her work.
From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2024
And a thought—a pin-sharp, unacknowledged thought that had dogged him since the kraken had lifted Mal onto a piece of driftwood— made him say: “The Immortal? The lost Immortal?”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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.
