unknowing

U1N1K5N1O1W4I1N1G2

adjective

Without knowing; ignorant.

UncommonScrabble 17

Meanings

adjectiveunknowing (comparative more unknowing, superlative most unknowing)

comparative more unknowing · superlative most unknowing

  1. Without knowing; ignorant.
  2. obsoleteUnknown, unbeknownst (to someone).

    And when they had fulfilled the dayes, as they returned home, the chylde Jesus boode styll in hierusalem, vnknowinge to his father and mother.

    1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke
noununknowing (plural unknowings)

plural unknowings

  1. Absence of knowledge; ignorance of something.

    Only later in the performance do we get that diegetically earlier moment, the moment when still earlier questions, fears, knowings, and unknowings congeal into the medical diagnosis of “positive.”

    2011, E. L. McCallum, Mikko Tuhkanen, Queer Times, Queer Becomings, page 320

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveunaware because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge

nounignorance (especially of orthodox beliefs)

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*ǵneh₃-
  9. Proto-Germanic*knēaną
  10. Proto-West Germanic*knāan
  11. Old Englishcnāwan
  12. Middle Englishknowen
  13. Englishknow
  14. Englishknowing
  15. Englishunknowing

From un- + knowing.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic جَاهِل
  • جَاهِل (jāhil)without knowing
Dutch onwetend
  • onwetendwithout knowing
Finnish tietämätön, epätietoinen
  • tietämätönwithout knowing
  • epätietoinenwithout knowing
German ahnungslos
  • ahnungsloswithout knowing
Polish bezwiedny
  • bezwiednywithout knowing
Cite this entry
APA

unknowing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unknowing

MLA

“unknowing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unknowing. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unknowing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unknowing.

Source: unknowing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.