unwitting
not intentional or deliberate; inadvertent; accidental: His insult, though unwitting, pained her.
not knowing; unaware; ignorant; oblivious; unconscious: an unwitting person.
Origin of unwitting
1Other words from unwitting
- un·wit·ting·ly, adverb
- un·wit·ting·ness, noun
Words Nearby unwitting
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use unwitting in a sentence
It is also important for global consumers to realize how they and their ancestors might have played an unwitting role in this tragedy.
As Germany Acknowledges Its Colonial-Era Genocide in Namibia, the Brutal Legacy of Diamond Mining Still Needs a Reckoning | Steven Press | June 10, 2021 | TimeIt aims to determine how well the Moderna vaccine prevents inoculated people from becoming unwitting carriers of the virus.
A vaccine study in college students will help determine when it’s safe to take masks off | Carolyn Y. Johnson | April 12, 2021 | Washington PostUntil his death, he was still searching for the last two, a pair of Francesco Guardi landscapes that he suspected were hanging in the home of an unwitting buyer in Florida.
Charles Hill, who tracked down stolen masterpieces like ‘The Scream,’ dies at 73 | Harrison Smith | March 12, 2021 | Washington PostSuch attacks are especially worrisome because of their ability to rapidly distribute malicious computer code to tens of thousands of unwitting customers.
The U.S. Spent $2.2 Million on a Cybersecurity System That Wasn’t Implemented — and Might Have Stopped a Major Hack | by Peter Elkind and Jack Gillum | February 2, 2021 | ProPublicaNSO used real people’s location data to pitch its contact-tracing tech, researchers say — Researchers say NSO’s use of real data “violated the privacy” of thousands of unwitting people.
The email appears to have been a relatively common attempt to gain personal information from a wide range of unwitting victims.
Those snakes attacked unwitting passers-by, or invaded homes and hotels.
The Buddhist Business of Poaching Animals for Good Karma | Brendon Hong | December 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe average reader, he declares, is but an unwitting receptacle for media narratives.
What is the News? Whatever Alain de Botton Thinks It Is | Robert Herritt | February 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPeople who don't believe in us; those unwitting, continuous sources of motivation.
Marcus, for example, argued that Freud was an unwitting modernist master and “Dora” “a great work of literature.”
Psychoanalysis as Literature: Stephen Grosz’s ‘The Examined Life’ | Lucy Scholes | June 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTHis unwitting violence sent her spinning, and she fell, knocking her head against a sofa.
Jaffery | William J. LockeA most important truth is here taught—that even unwitting contact with death might bring sin upon the Nazarite.
Separation and Service | James Hudson TaylorBut when she lifted the latch of the gate, a sensation, prompted by some unwitting self-accusal, struck her with alarm.
Rhoda Fleming, Complete | George MeredithInstantly, he was all contrition over his unwitting offense inflicted on her womanly vanity.
Within the Law | Marvin DanaIt is a matter of natural taste, developed and strengthened by continual practice, to avoid being the unwitting slave of phrases.
Robert Louis Stevenson | Walter Raleigh
British Dictionary definitions for unwitting
/ (ʌnˈwɪtɪŋ) /
not knowing or conscious
not intentional; inadvertent
Origin of unwitting
1Derived forms of unwitting
- unwittingly, adverb
- unwittingness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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