Wiktionary

unwitting

English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English unwittinge, unwitand, from Old English unwitende (“unwitting; not knowing; unaware; unconscious”), from Proto-Germanic *unwitandz (“not knowing”), equivalent to un- +‎ witting. Cognate with West Frisian ûnwittend, Dutch onwetend, German Low German unwetend, German unwissend and unwissentlich, Icelandic óvitandi.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

unwitting (comparative more unwitting, superlative most unwitting)

  1. unaware or uninformed; oblivious
    Synonyms: clueless, ignorant; see also Thesaurus:ignorant
    Antonyms: aware, cognizant
    • 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Location of Experiment:
      We've located the perfect site for experimentation on live test subjects. Kadara's "badlands" offer unsupervised access to unwitting test subjects free from any lawful or ethical constraints.
  2. unintentional
    • (transl.) 4th century BC, Plato, Sophist, 230a
      Some people, apparently, have thought about it and reached the conclusion that every case of being misinformed is unwitting.
    • 1963 May, “News and Comment: Derailment at Bethnal Green”, in Modern Railways, page 299:
      Persistent but unwitting excessive speed over a sharply curved turnout forming part of a double junction, which resulted in slight track distortion, was the primary cause of the derailment of an electric m.u. at Bethnal Green on Saturday, June 17 last.
    Synonyms: inadvertent, unintended; see also Thesaurus:unintentional
    Antonym: deliberate

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

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