unidentified
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If something is unidentified, it's mysterious or unknown, whether it's an unidentified flying object or an unidentified fruit that turns up in your grocery cart. Being unidentified means having an unknown identity, from a Latin root meaning "sameness." If you can't determine the identity of a person, like the victim of a crime or a new student at school, they're unidentified. And if your dog brings something disgusting inside, but you can't figure out what on earth it is, just call it an unidentified object and toss it in the garbage!
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.
Prosecutors and antiterrorism police on Wednesday opened an investigation into the incident and a second unidentified object flying near the airport, which closed Tuesday night in response to the drone discovery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The police said that shortly before midnight, "an unidentified flying object" was sighted.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The discovery gives Kiama Library an unusually complete local mystery: an unidentified borrower, a hidden fireplace, a theoretical five-figure fine and, after approximately a century and a half, a very late happy ending.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
Now, researchers at UC Berkeley have identified specific regions of the modern human genome that came from these unidentified ancestors and estimated when the interbreeding occurred.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Early that morning the radar operators picked up an unidentified plane as it sped down from the pole and crossed the border of the Soviet Union.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
