Meanings
comparative more untrodden · superlative most untrodden
- That has never been trod upon; unexplored, unspoiled.
Their path led them past sharp cliffs, along narrow trails unknown and untrodden, past headlong boulders strewn across barren, treeless, wind-haunted heights.
1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 354 more examples
Proofs of the presence of the white man are found all over the Territory in the shape of old bouilli tins, &c., and often when out after a strayed horse, I have imagined myself to be in wilds untrodden except by the foot of the blackfellow, but the sight of an unassuming empty sardine tin would remind me that the ubiquitous digger had been there first.
1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 342If he could only get away from the holes in the banks, he thought, there would be no more faces. He swung off the path and plunged into the untrodden places of the wood.
1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLCMoreover the most becoming place for temples and altars he said to be that which, while being most visible, would be most untrodden; for it is pleasant for those who are undefiled to approach it.
1994, Xenophon, translated by Amy L. Bonnette, Memorabilia, page 93The upper layer of the soil is, therefore, less solid than in other trampled habitats and the optimum development of the community can only take place in the broader joints between paving stones in more untrodden places, often in strips of pavement at the foots^([sic]) of walls where the shifting sand accumulates and turbulent air currents may play an important role.
1969, S. Segal, Ecological Notes on Wall Vegetation, published 2013, page 252 - Of a person: undefeated.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivelacking pathways
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-
- Englishtrodden
- Englishuntrodden
Translations
Ancient Greek ἀτριβής
- ἀτριβής (atribḗs)that has never been trod upon
Bulgarian неотъпкан
- неотъпкан (neotăpkan)that has never been trod upon
Esperanto nesurtretita
- nesurtretitathat has never been trod upon
Cite this entry
untrodden. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/untrodden
“untrodden.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/untrodden. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “untrodden,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/untrodden.
Source: untrodden on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.