adjective
Etymology
Origin of unrecorded
Explanation
If you neglect to write something down, photograph it, or otherwise document that it happened, it's unrecorded. Many unrecorded events in history are passed on through oral storytelling. When an event is recorded, it's filmed, described in writing, or somehow documented so that it can be referred to later. Anything unrecorded hasn't been captured in a permanent form. If your cousin's violin recital is unrecorded, that means no one took a video. The stories of people who hold little power in society have often gone unrecorded, so they're frequently left out of history books. The Latin root of unrecorded is recordari, "remember."
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.
Routine testing includes payroll, expense vouching, cash procedures, search for unrecorded liabilities, accounts receivable, acquisitions of new buildings and equipment, and the cost of goods sold.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
It’s only going to become a more frequent dilemma as streamers, surveillance cameras, and wearable glasses leave fewer moments of reality unrecorded.
From Slate • Sep. 12, 2025
But the number of casualties is likely to be significantly higher, because fatal accidents tend to go unrecorded on this route.
From BBC • Oct. 13, 2024
After analyzing layers of sediment at Carrizo Plain National Monument, researchers at Cal State Fullerton say they have identified two massive, unrecorded Southern California flood events within the last 600 years.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2024
What other wildlife deaths may have gone unnoticed and unrecorded is not known.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
