unseen

U1N1S1E1E1N1
/ʌnˈsiːn/

adjective

Not seen or discovered; invisible.

“What has been seen cannot be unseen.”

Less commonScrabble 6

Meanings

unseen1

adjectiveunseen (not comparable)
  1. not comparableNot seen or discovered; invisible.

    When night had fallen, the she-demon stole forth toward the hall, which she entered unheard and unseen.

    1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 33
    3 more examples

    You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream.

    1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 9, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

    Were one asked to characterize the life of religion in the broadest and most general terms possible, one might say that it consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto.

    1902, William James, “Lecture 3”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC

    Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.

    2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18

    Synonyms: inapparent, nondisplayed, unseeable, disapparent, inapparent, inconspicuous, invis, invisible

  2. not comparableNot hitherto noticed; unobserved.

    I to the world am like a drop of water That in the ocean seeks another drop, Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself.

    c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]
    1 more example

    The advent of COVID passports, so soon after increased check-in bureaucracy post-Brexit, brought major logistical ramifications to St Pancras International, of a kind unseen at any other major station in Britain.

    2022 November 30, Nick Brodrick, “Pride and innovation shine at St Pancras”, in RAIL, number 971, page 67

    Synonyms: unbeholden, unscanned, unsighted, viewless

unseen2

verb
  1. participlepastpast participle of unsee

    What has been seen cannot be unseen.

noununseen (plural unseens)

plural unseens

  1. An examination involving material not previously seen or studied.

    I have French and Latin unseens this summer.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveNot hitherto noticed; unobserved.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivenot seen or perceived

adjectiveunnoticed

nouna belief that there is a realm controlled by a divine spirit

Similar
spiritual worldspiritual domain
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

unseen · adjective

  1. Proto-Germanic*unsewanaz
  2. Old Englishunġesewen
  3. Middle Englishunsen
  4. Englishunseen

From Middle English unsen, unseyn, unseien, from Old English unġesewen, from Proto-Germanic *unsewanaz, equivalent to un- + seen. Cognate with Dutch ongezien (“unseen”), German Low German unsehn (“unseen”), German ungesehen (“unseen”).

Full word history & related roots →

unseen · verb, noun

  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. Arabicسِين (sīn)
  9. Englishseen
  10. Englishunseen

From un- + seen.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ἄδηλος, ἀφανής
  • ἄδηλος (ádēlos)not seen
  • ἀφανής (aphanḗs)not seen
  • ἀϊδνός (aïdnós)not seen
Bulgarian невидим, незабележим
  • невидим (nevidim)not seen
  • незабележим (nezabeležim)not seen
Danish uset
  • usetnot seen
Dutch ongezien
  • ongeziennot seen
Esperanto nevidita
  • neviditanot seen
Finnish näkymätön
  • näkymätönnot seen
German unbesehen, unbemerkt
  • unbesehennot seen
  • unbemerktnot seen
Greek αόρατος
  • αόρατος (aóratos)not seen
Hebrew אנסין
  • אנסיןexamination on material not previously seen
Hindi अदृश्य, अलख
  • अदृश्य (adŕśya)not seen
  • अलख (alakh)not seen
  • अनदेखा (andekhā)not seen
Irish gan fheiceáil
  • gan fheiceáilnot seen
Latin invīsus
  • invīsusnot seen
Māori whakapeke, koropuku
  • whakapekenot seen
  • koropukunot seen
Norwegian Bokmål usett
  • usettnot seen
Russian неви́димый, незри́мый
  • неви́димый (nevídimyj)not seen
  • незри́мый (nezrímyj)not seen
  • незаме́ченный (nezaméčennyj)not seen
Turkish görünmez
  • görünmeznot seen

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with unseen

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

unseen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unseen

MLA

“unseen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unseen. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unseen,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unseen.

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