Word Study
unbeknown
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Adjective unbeknown has 1 sense
- unbeknown(s = adj.all) unbeknownst - (usually used with `to') occurring or existing without the knowledge of; "a crisis unbeknown to me"; "she had been ill for months, unbeknownst to the family"
Adverbial unbeknown has 1 sense
- unbeknown(r = adv.all) unbeknownst - without someone's knowledge; "unbeknownst to me, she made all the arrangements"
OXFORD DICTIONARY
unbeknown, adj. (also unbeknownst) (foll. by to) without the knowledge of (was there all the time unbeknown to us).
Etymology
UN-(1) + beknown (archaic) = KNOWN
THESAURUS
unbeknown
able, enigmatic, incalculable, incognizable, mysterious, puzzling, sealed, strange, unapparent, unapprehended, unascertained, uncharted, unclassified, undisclosed, undiscoverable, undiscovered, undivulged, unexplained, unexplored, unexposed, unfamiliar, unfathomed, unheard, unheard-of, unidentified, uninvestigated, unknowable, unknown, unperceived, unplumbed, unrevealed, unsuspected, untouched, virgin
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