unanticipated
Britishadjective
Explanation
Unanticipated means "unexpected." Finding a candy bar in your lunchbox when your mom usually packs nothing but health food would be an unanticipated delight. Just as pleasure is sweetest when unanticipated, unanticipated pain is a bitter pill. Getting laid off from a job is often unanticipated––and the fact that you're blindsided by it is often the source of most of the pain. You wonder why you didn't see it coming, and worry that other unanticipated disasters lie in wait for you.
Vocabulary lists containing unanticipated
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Flora and Ulysses
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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.
Unanticipated pleasures can sometimes be the most delightful.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2018
Unanticipated technical challenges have also plagued the plant ever since the Department of Energy decided to begin construction without a completed design.
From US News • Oct. 19, 2016
Unanticipated potential risks are being discovered and debated.
From Nature • Aug. 25, 2014
An Unanticipated Problem In 2011, 55 percent of new air-conditioning units were sold in the Asia Pacific region, and the industry’s production has moved there.
From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2012
Unanticipated complication: apparently, I don’t know how to talk in nice restaurants.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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.
