Meanings
adjectiveunanticipated (comparative more unanticipated, superlative most unanticipated)
comparative more unanticipated · superlative most unanticipated
- Not anticipated.
Last February, Elon Musk boasted of “feeding USAID into the woodchipper” as President Trump kicked off his second term with an unanticipated assault on the agency.
2026 February 8, Jeremy Konyndyk, “The Aftermath of Feeding America’s Credibility Into the Woodchipper”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2026
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivenot anticipated
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishanticipated
- Englishunanticipated
From un- + anticipated.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Māori matawhawhati
- matawhawhatinot anticipated
Romanian neanticipat, neașteptat
- neanticipatnot anticipated
- neașteptatnot anticipated
- neprevăzutnot anticipated
Cite this entry
APA
unanticipated. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unanticipated
MLA
“unanticipated.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unanticipated. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unanticipated,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unanticipated.
Source: unanticipated on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.