unaccustomed
Americanadjective
-
not accustomed or habituated.
to be unaccustomed to hardships.
-
unusual; unfamiliar.
A brief after-dinner speech is an unaccustomed pleasure.
- Synonyms:
- unexpected, peculiar, curious, extraordinary, uncommon
adjective
-
(foll by to) not used (to)
unaccustomed to pain
-
not familiar; strange or unusual
Other Word Forms
- unaccustomedness noun
Etymology
Origin of unaccustomed
First recorded in 1520–30; un- 1 + accustomed
Explanation
If you're unaccustomed to something, you're not used to it. When you're unaccustomed to riding a horse, it might take a while to get the hang of staying in the saddle. An unaccustomed knock on the door might startle you and make your dog bark in alarm, and an unaccustomed bonus in your paycheck will come as a happy surprise. You might feel awkward having tea with a princess in a palace if you're unaccustomed to fine dining and dignified table manners. The prefix un here means "not," and it's combined with accustom, with its ultimate Latin root word consuetudinem, "habit, usage, practice, or custom."
Vocabulary lists containing unaccustomed
Flowers for Algernon
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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Stories of Ourselves
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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.
Daidai posted that drivers coming into the area should be careful on the roads, especially those from the city unaccustomed to conditions in the countryside.
From BBC • Jan. 15, 2026
For Sarah, a 34-year-old marketer in Michigan, the summer of 2022 was a season flush with unaccustomed success.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
The 109% premium over Thursday’s closing price, and the nearly 1,000% premium over Cidara’s share price five months ago, are additional positive signs for biotech, which has been on an unaccustomed run this fall.
From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025
He deploys a funky delivery that ends with him throwing the ball from high above his head, an arm slot opposing batters are unaccustomed to facing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
The pilot, however, was unaccustomed to glacier flying, and he’d badly misjudged the scale of the terrain.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
