Meanings
unmet1
- Not met.
- archaicnot comparableNot encountered; unencountered.
VVindes looſe their ſtrength, vvhen they do empty fly, / Vn-met of vvoods or buildings; […]
1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act V, signature K, verso1 more example
O Ancient Knight, thou sleepest then? / While through this poor land range the heathen men, / Unmet of any but my King and Lord: / Nay, let us see the deeds of thine old sword.
1868, William Morris, “August: Ogier the Dane”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, parts [I and II], London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 662 - figurativelynot comparableNot achieved; unfulfilled.
1 more example
One senior CRP [Community Rail Partnership] manager said: "The best thing a CRP can do to help the community is to work to ensure the train service is as relevant and useful as possible to that community (and is well used and stays that way) and that where there is sufficient unmet local need, the service expands to meet it where possible."
2022 March 9, Paul Salveson, “Part of the Community”, in Rail, number 952, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, supplement, pages 30–31Synonyms: unachieved
unmet2
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of unmeet
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot achieved; unfulfilled.
Origin
unmet · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishmet
- Englishunmet
From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + met (the past participle of meet (“to come face to face with, encounter; to comply with, satisfy”)); probably related to Old English ungemet (“unmet”) (chiefly used as part of a compound)—the word is not attested in Middle English. Ġemet in ungemet is possibly a past participle form of ġemētan (“to come upon, encounter, meet; to discover, find”).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with unmet
Anagrams
Cite this entry
unmet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmet
“unmet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmet. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unmet,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmet.
Source: unmet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.