unknown
not known
How often you will meet it
Rank 1,369 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 13,429 times across 175,160 chapters — 0.006% of every word in the library.
What it means
adjective
- not known an unknown amountan unknown island
- being or having an unknown or unnamed source also: nameless, unidentified, unnamed a poem by an unknown authorcorporations responsible to nameless owners
- not known to exist things obscurely felt surged up from unknown depths
- not famous or acclaimed also: obscure, unsung an obscure familyunsung heroes of the war
- not known before also: strange used many strange wordssaw many strange faces in the crowd
noun
- an unknown and unexplored region also: unknown region, terra incognita they came like angels out the unknown
- anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found also: stranger, alien
- a variable whose values are solutions of an equation also: unknown quantity
unknown in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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All unknown to himself it was a crisis.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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On that very day the last post brought me three letters in unknown hands.
Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1
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It can do nothing to anticipate a crime conceived in the brain of an unknown scoundrel.’
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
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He had discovered a new and secret method of transformations that was unknown to any other Sorcerer.
The Magic of Oz · L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum · Chapter 1
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Yes! 'tis a lamentable truth, this smooth, oleaginous, and delicately odorous employment for the silver spoon, was unknown.
Sketches by Seymour — Volume 04 · Robert Seymour · Chapter 1