1
as in unfamiliar
happening or existing without one's knowledge
unknown to me was the fact that while I was out, my family was hurriedly preparing a surprise birthday party
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in novel
not known or experienced before
becoming a father brought unknown joy to his life
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in obscure
not widely known
looking for a relatively unknown singer to record the song
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of unknown
Ninety-three percent of the country's measles cases in 2025 occurred in patients who either had not been vaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status.
—
Christopher Edwards, PEOPLE, 1 May 2026
Officers responded earlier this week to Wells Hall over reports of a suspicious person, a strong odor and unknown substances on the floor, WILX reported.
—Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 1 May 2026
Police said the man, for reasons unknown, rolled his legs into the roadway and was lying partly on the curb line and partly on the street.
—Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 May 2026
Plans are competitively priced and include coverage for unknown preexisting conditions.
—Sharon Wu, USA Today, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for unknown
Christopher Edwards, PEOPLE, 1 May 2026
Officers responded earlier this week to Wells Hall over reports of a suspicious person, a strong odor and unknown substances on the floor, WILX reported.
—Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 1 May 2026
Police said the man, for reasons unknown, rolled his legs into the roadway and was lying partly on the curb line and partly on the street.
—Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 May 2026
Plans are competitively priced and include coverage for unknown preexisting conditions.
—Sharon Wu, USA Today, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for unknown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unknown
Adjective
-
These fascinating, mind-scrambling books show familiar events from unfamiliar perspectives.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
This was unfamiliar territory for the showrunners.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
4 May 2026
Adjective
-
Given the novel situation, airline and airport staff needed to work within flight safety protocol on the fly to decide what actions to take.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
3 May 2026
-
The veteran Midwest emo group’s fourth record traipses into somewhat novel post-rock, shoegaze, and math-y territory.—
Jazz Monroe,
Pitchfork,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
Hantavirus is suspected of spreading aboard a luxury cruise ship, killing three passengers and sparking new concerns as a once obscure disease, with an extraordinarily high death rate, rises amid changing climate conditions.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 May 2026
-
Pau’s early work cohered around a nonnarrative approach to themes of alienation and isolation, rendered through obscure and richly textured visuals.—
Pauline J. Yao,
Artforum,
2 May 2026
Adjective
-
But, unbeknownst to many observers at the time, Graham was enduring even more withering pressures, with determination that was all the more impressive for being almost entirely invisible.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
-
Industry hawks opposed to 340B’s expansion warn that providers could then charge patients for the full cost of the drugs, unbeknownst to the beneficiaries.—
Mia Cathell,
The Washington Examiner,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The truck had been at the head of a column of seven rescue vehicles, all of which had received clearance from the tower to cross Runway 4 at Taxiway D and head toward a United Airlines flight that was evacuating due to a strange odor onboard.—
Evan Simko-Bednarski,
New York Daily News,
28 Apr. 2026
-
On World Rhythms, Lockwood trusts the listener to hear the arc of its noises, to trace their emergence and disappearance, their strange, seductive confluence.—
Joshua Minsoo Kim,
Pitchfork,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Although attempts were made to wake her up through verbal and sternal stimuli, her difficulty breathing went unrecognized for 15 minutes.—
Michelle Lee,
PEOPLE,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Users should also check event logs for any unrecognized changes to DNS server settings.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
What is more likely is that, fifty years hence, Americans will observe that this anniversary took place during a polarizing time, but that such circumstances were not unprecedented.—
Jelani Cobb,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
As this was an unprecedented case in which league officials participated in the deception, the remedy is woefully inadequate.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
3 May 2026
Adjective
-
The film has also landed a pair of high-profile new additions.—
Kennedy French,
Variety,
8 May 2026
-
There was a lot wrong with it, and new things were going wrong all the time, but many of the old things that had been going wrong were also getting fixed.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unknown.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unknown. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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