Unknown Meaning
/ʌn(ˈn)əʊn/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot known; unidentified; not well known.
nounA variable (usually x, y or z) whose value is to be found.
Sentence Examples
A known mistake is better than an unknown truth.
The known must be separated from the unknown.
A previously unknown group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cause of the disease remains ____ to scientists despite years of research.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The exact cause of the problem remains ____, so the technicians are continuing to conduct a thorough investigation today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English *unknowen, *uniknowen, uniknowe, from Old English unġecnāwen (“unknown”), equivalent to un- + known.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:
"I suspect that this large and complex military railway system, shrouded in official secrecy for most of its operational life, remains unknown to many people."
— 2022 January 12, Chris Hegg, “The secret railway in the woods”, in RAIL, number 948, page 34:
"Had God walked close beside her into the unknown?"
— 1957, Ethel Erford Hewitt, Into the Unknown: An Historical Novel, page 351:
"I think I learned more from my family than they did from me in the brief idyllic time we spent together. None of them much more than a mile from home, they carried the aura of a close-knit community as a shield against against the unknown."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 217:
"As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know."
— 2003 [2002], Donald Rumsfeld, edited by Hart Seely, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cause of the disease remains ____ to scientists despite years of research.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The exact cause of the problem remains ____, so the technicians are continuing to conduct a thorough investigation today.