unknown

[uhn-nohn]

adjective

1. not known; not within the range of one's knowledge, experience, or understanding; strange; unfamiliar.

2. not discovered, explored, identified, or ascertained.

   the unknown parts of Antarctica.

3. not widely known; not famous; obscure.

   an unknown writer.

noun

1. a thing, influence, area, factor, or person that is unknown.

   the many unknowns in modern medicine; The director cast an unknown in the leading role.

2. Mathematics.,  a symbol representing an unknown quantity: in algebra, analysis, etc., frequently represented by a letter from the last part of the alphabet, as x, y, or z.

unknown

/ ʌnˈnəʊn /

adjective

1. not known, understood, or recognized

2. not established, identified, or discovered

   an unknown island

3. not famous; undistinguished

   some unknown artist

4. a person or thing whose action, effect, etc, is unknown or unpredictable

noun

1. an unknown person, quantity, or thing

2. maths a variable, or the quantity it represents, the value of which is to be discovered by solving an equation; a variable in a conditional equation

   3y = 4x + 5 is an equation in two unknowns

Other Word Forms

• unknownness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of unknown¹

First recorded in 1250–1300, unknown is from the Middle English word unknow(e)n. See un- ¹, known

Example Sentences

Another unknown is the impact of lower oil prices on Permian crude production, and, by extension, the natural-gas output there.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

And, of course, the fate of U.S.-China trade talks remains both unknown and extremely risky heading into the expiration of the uneasy detente between Washington and Beijing on Nov. 10.

Read more on Barron's

The cause of the accident is unknown but an investigation has been launched.

Read more on BBC

One big unknown: how many Americans will decide they want flood insurance at a time when home-insurance costs are already way up.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Meanwhile, the Brewers are largely a collection of castoffs and unknowns who have somehow coalesced into something greater than their collective pedigrees.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• anonymous 
• exotic 
• foreign 
• nameless 
• new 
• remote 
• strange 
• uncharted 
• undiscovered 
• unexplained 
• unexplored 
• unfamiliar 
• unidentified 
• unnamed 
• unrecognized