Unseen Meaning
/ʌnˈsiːn/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot seen or discovered; invisible.
adjUnskilled; inexperienced.
Sentence Examples
What has been seen can not be unseen.
Tom regrets buying the car sight unseen, because it's broken down twice in two months.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The spy moved through the crowd completely ____ while avoiding all cameras.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small bird remained ____ as it sang its beautiful song from high in the leaves of the oak tree today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English unsen, unseyn, unseien, from Old English unġesewen, from Proto-Germanic *unsewanaz, equivalent to un- + seen. Cognate with Dutch ongezien (“unseen”), German Low German unsehn (“unseen”), German ungesehen (“unseen”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream."
— 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 9, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:
"Were one asked to characterize the life of religion in the broadest and most general terms possible, one might say that it consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto."
— 1902, William James, “Lecture 3”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:
"When night had fallen, the she-demon stole forth toward the hall, which she entered unheard and unseen."
— 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 33:
"Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much."
— 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
"I to the world am like a drop of water
That in the ocean seeks another drop,
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself."
— c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The spy moved through the crowd completely ____ while avoiding all cameras.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small bird remained ____ as it sang its beautiful song from high in the leaves of the oak tree today.