Meanings
- not comparableWhich has not been lauded or appreciated.
The backstage crew of the movie were the unsung heroes.
2 more examples
Only when one has seen a Control Office at first-hand does one realise the vast amount of unsparing but largely unsung work that is behind the eventual publication, perhaps, of a paragraph in this journal's "Motive Power Miscellany" recording the appearance, within hours of the complete blockage of a main line, of many of its trains, passenger and freight, on routes quite foreign to them; and of effective emergency services either side of the disaster area.
1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 133He said: "Every day, thousands of unsung women and men go to work to keep London moving and to make this city better, cleaner and safer for everyone. [...]"
2019 November 23, “Network News”, in Rail, page 23Synonyms: unhonored, unglorified, unreputed, fameless, gloriless, inglorious, nameless, nonfamous · Antonyms: sung, bait, fabled, famed, famous, famoused, iconic, irrecondite
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveWhich has not been lauded or appreciated.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivenot famous or acclaimed
adjectivehaving value that is not acknowledged
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-
- Englishsung
- Englishunsung
Translations
Czech neopěvovaný
- neopěvovanýwhich has not been lauded or appreciated
Dutch onbezongen, ongezongen
- onbezongenwhich has not been lauded or appreciated
- ongezongennot sung
Greek παραγνωρισμένος, άψαλτος
- παραγνωρισμένος (paragnorisménos)which has not been lauded or appreciated
- άψαλτος (ápsaltos)not sung
- ανεξύμνητος (anexýmnitos)not sung
- ατραγούδιστος (atragoúdistos)not sung
Italian sconosciuto, non riconosciuto
- sconosciutowhich has not been lauded or appreciated
- non riconosciutowhich has not been lauded or appreciated
Russian невоспетый
- невоспетый (nevospetyj)which has not been lauded or appreciated
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with unsung
Cite this entry
unsung. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unsung
“unsung.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unsung. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unsung,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unsung.
Source: unsung on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.