unrecognizable
Britishadjective
Explanation
Anything that's unrecognizable can't be identified, often because it has changed so much. If your brother's Halloween costume is so elaborate that you can't even tell it's him under all that makeup, he's unrecognizable. This adjective is often used for things that have been badly damaged: "After the hurricane's destruction, the town was unrecognizable." You can also use it in a more positive way: "Once my bike was repaired and painted it was completely unrecognizable!" Unrecognizable comes from the prefix un-, or "not," and the Latin recognoscere, "recall to mind or know again."
Vocabulary lists containing unrecognizable
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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.
When asked whether he was able to recognize any facial features, Byers said: "No, there was a quite a bit of decomposition to where skin slippage...made it unrecognizable."
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Truly, this recipe takes an often-wasted food and transforms it into something unrecognizable and magnificent.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026
Those visitors describe a North Korea unrecognizable from the past, especially its capital, Pyongyang, where Kim and the country’s elite live.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
At a Dr. Jack seminar held in a furniture store, Cheadle’s unrecognizable cameo competes with kids jumping on a couch and a spasmodic massage chair pummeling Corvette’s face.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Your neighbors, unrecognizable in the thick layers they wear against the cold, keep their faces down to avoid the wind.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
