See Also: unknown(dictionary)
UNKNOWN(law)
Unknown Soldier, the(dictionary)
unknown 2, noun(dictionary)
fever of unknown origin(medicine)
neoplasms, unknown primary(medicine)
unknown 1, adjective, adverb(dictionary)

unknown (iou)



unknown adjective & noun. ME.
[from UN-1 + KNOWN adjective & noun.]
A. adjective.
1. Not known, not generally recognized, unfamiliar. ME.
J. F. Lehmann Contributions arrived..from quite unknown writers. I. Murdoch Fleeing for reasons unknown from her husband.
2. Ignorant (of); unskilled in. ME-M17.
3. Foll. by to, (arch.) of: without the knowledge of, unbeknown to. LME.
F. Swinnerton Unknown to Simon, Vera was..in conversation with Morrison.
Special collocations: unknown country: see COUNTRY noun. unknown quantity a person, thing, or quantity whose nature, significance, value, etc., cannot be determined. Unknown Soldier, Unknown Warrior an unidentified representative member of a country's armed forces killed in war, given burial with special honours in a national memorial.
B. noun.
1. An unknown person or thing. L16.
M. Gowing He acknowledged the unknowns in the situation. A. Higonnet Manet in 1860 was still a young unknown.
2. the unknown, that which is unknown. M17.
3. Math. An unknown quantity. E19.
unknownness [-n-n-] noun E17.