unaddressed
Britishadjective
Explanation
If a postcard is unaddressed, it means you forgot to write the recipient's mailing address on it. But if an issue or question is unaddressed, it hasn't been dealt with. When a politician speaks in public and manages to avoid answering the most important questions reporters ask, those issues remain unaddressed. And if you stay after school for extra math help but leave still not understanding what a polynomial is, your questions are unaddressed. This meaning of unaddressed comes from the verb address in the sense of "acknowledge and deal with something."
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 those feelings go unaddressed for long enough, Hamm said, people will come to accept a certain amount of lawlessness from the figures they feel can solve their problems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The questions, which went unaddressed, are what sorts of weapons they are, why he’s announcing this now, and—most important—what it all means for the broader issues of war and peace.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
"Nine years after Daphne's brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed."
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Left unaddressed, this will translate into a 22% reduction in benefits for the nearly 73 million Americans who will be over 65 by 2030.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
She leans over to her handbag and pulls out a rectangular white envelope, unaddressed and unsealed.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
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.
