unread

[uhn-red]

adjective

1. not read, as a letter or newspaper.

2. lacking in knowledge gained by reading; having read little or nothing.

   She was intelligent but unread.

3. having little knowledge of a specific field.

   a brilliant chemist unread in biology.

unread

/ ʌnˈrɛd /

adjective

1. (of a book, newspaper, etc) not yet read

2. (of a person) having read little

3. not versed (in a specified field)

Word History and Origins

Origin of unread¹

First recorded in 1425–75, unread is from the late Middle English word unred. See un- ¹, read ²

Example Sentences

One of Australia's biggest telecommunication companies sent emails about a deadly outage to the wrong email address at the Department of Communcations where they remained unread for over a day, parliament has heard.

Read more on BBC

How many unread text messages do you have?

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Since 1996, she has published books of poetry, short fiction, essays and graphic novels; she wrote the libretto for an opera; and she wrote a novel that will remain unread for nearly 100 years.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

No rehearsal or director, just the actor and the terror of an unread script.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The fliers that come through the mail slot accumulate but go unread.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• illiterate 
• innocent 
• naive 
• oblivious 
• obtuse 
• uneducated 
• uninformed