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.
Unacknowledged civilian casualties are only one problematic aspect of the clandestine drone program, of course.
From Washington Times • May 2, 2015
Unacknowledged as it may be, in some sense MAD still exists, even if we prefer to pretend that it doesn’t.
From Salon • Jul. 9, 2012
Unacknowledged on its website client list is its work for the regime of Libya's Col.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 9, 2011
Unacknowledged vanity is ever the enemy of comedy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Unacknowledged dissatisfactions of her own sharpened her feeling about it.
From Fidelity A Novel by Glaspell, Susan
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.
