UNESCO

American

[yoo-nes-koh] / yuˈnɛs koʊ /

noun

an agency of the United Nations charged with instituting and administering programs for cooperative, coordinated action by member states in education, science, and the arts.

UNESCO British

/ juːˈnɛskəʊ /

acronym

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization: an agency of the United Nations that sponsors programmes to promote education, communication, the arts, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of UNESCO

U(nited) N(ations) E(ducational) , S(cientific, and) C(ultural) O(rganization)

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.

In June 2022, UNESCO, which is committed to increasing global tsunami risk awareness among coastal communities, declared:

From Science Daily • May 21, 2026

UNESCO, which participated at senior level in the May 2025 Washington D.C. meeting, is expected to host a follow-up session in Paris on March 3rd, 2026, at Assistant Director-General level.

From Science Daily • Feb. 14, 2026

According to UNESCO, the park is home to between 80 and 90 percent of Sierra Leone's biodiversity.

From Barron's • Nov. 3, 2025

It’s one of 129 war-damaged Ukrainian religious sites recorded by UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organization.

From Seattle Times • May 2, 2024

Tensions that cause wars: common statement and individual papers by a group of social scientists brought together by UNESCO.

From U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1977 July - December by Library of Congress. Copyright Office

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023