Word Study
unknown
OXFORD DICTIONARY
unknown, adj. & n.
--adj. (often foll. by to) not known, unfamiliar (his purpose was unknown to me).
--n.
1 an unknown thing or person.
2 an unknown quantity (equation in two unknowns).
--adj. (often foll. by to) not known, unfamiliar (his purpose was unknown to me).
--n.
1 an unknown thing or person.
2 an unknown quantity (equation in two unknowns).
Idiom
unknown country see COUNTRY. unknown quantity a person or thing whose nature, significance, etc., cannot be determined. Unknown Soldier an unidentified representative member of a country's armed forces killed in war, given burial with special honours in a national memorial. unknown to without the knowledge of (did it unknown to me). Unknown Warrior = Unknown Soldier.
Derivative
unknownness n.
THESAURUS
unknown
Heaven, Paradise, a better place, able, abstruse, afterlife, afterworld, anonymous, beclouded, blind, buried, close, clouded, concealed, covered, covert, cryptonymic, cryptonymous, dark, dark horse, destiny, eclipsed, enigma, enigmatic, eternal home, fate, frontier, frontiers of knowledge, future state, hid, hidden, home, humble, ignotus, in a cloud, in a fog, in eclipse, in purdah, in the wings, incalculable, incognito, incognizable, incommunicado, inglorious, innominate, latent, life after death, life to come, little known, matter of ignorance, mysterious, mystery, n, nameless, next world, no credit to, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, occult, otherworld, postexistence, puzzle, puzzling, recondite, renownless, riddle, sealed, sealed book, secluded, secluse, secret, sequestered, strange, terra incognita, the beyond, the good hereafter, the grave, the great beyond, the great hereafter, the hereafter, the incalculable, the strange, the unfamiliar, the unknowable, the unknown, unacknowledged, unapparent, unapprehended, unascertained, unbeknown, uncelebrated, uncharted, unclassified, undefined, under an eclipse, under cover, under house arrest, under wraps, underground, undesignated, undisclosed, undiscoverable, undiscovered, undistinguished, undivulged, unexplained, unexplored, unexplored ground, unexplored territory, unexposed, unfamed, unfamiliar, unfathomed, unglorified, unheard, unheard-of, unhonored, unidentified, uninvestigated, unknowable, unknown quantity, unnamed, unnotable, unnoted, unnoticed, unperceived, unplumbed, unpopular, unrecognized, unremarked, unrenowned, unrevealed, unspecified, unsung, unsuspected, untold, untouched, virgin, what bodes, what is fated, without a name, world to come, wrapped in clouds, x, zROGET THESAURUS
unknown
Ignorance
N ignorance, nescience, tabula rasa, crass ignorance, ignorance crasse, unfamiliarity, unacquaintance, unconsciousness, darkness, blindness, incomprehension, inexperience, simplicity, unknown quantities, x, y, z, sealed book, terra incognita, virgin soil, unexplored ground, dark ages, smattering, sciolism, glimmering, dilettantism, bewilderment, incapacity, pedantry, charlatanry, charlatism, Philister, Philistine, ignorant, nescient, unknowing, unaware, unacquainted, unapprised, unapprized, unwitting, unweeting, unconscious, witless, weetless, a stranger to, unconversant, uninformed, uncultivated, unversed, uninstructed, untaught, uninitiated, untutored, unschooled, misguided, unenlightened, Philistine, behind the age, shallow, superficial, green, rude, empty, half-learned, illiterate, unread, uninformed, uneducated, unlearned, unlettered, unbookish, empty-headed, dizzy, wooly-headed, pedantic, in the dark, benighted, belated, blinded, blindfolded, hoodwinked, misinformed, au bout de son latin, at the end of his tether, at fault, at sea, caught tripping, unknown, unapprehended, unexplained, unascertained, uninvestigated, unexplored, unheard of, not perceived, concealed, novel, ignorantly, unawares, for anything, for aught one knows, not that one knows, Int, God knows, Heaven knows, the Lord knows, who knows, nobody knows, ignorance never settles a question, quantum animis erroris inest!, small Latin and less Greek, that unlettered small-knowing soul, there is no darkness but ignorance.Implication
N latency, implication, latency, inexpression, hidden meaning, occult meaning, occultness, mystery, cabala, anagoge, silence, concealment, more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear, Delphic oracle, le dessous des cartes, undercurrent, implication, logical implication, logical consequence, entailment, allusion, insinuation, innuendo, adumbration, something rotten in the state of Denmark, snake in the grass, secret, darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility, latent, lurking, secret, occult, implied, dormant, abeyant, unapparent, unknown, unseen, in the background, invisible, indiscoverable, dark, impenetrable, unspied, unsuspected, unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed, untalked of, untold &c, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed, undisclosed, unexpressed, not expressed, tacit, undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced, undiscovered, untracked, unexplored, uninvented, indirect, crooked, inferential, by inference, by implication, implicit, constructive, allusive, covert, muffled, steganographic, understood, underhand, underground, delitescent, concealed, by a side wind, sub silentio, in the background, behind the scenes, behind one's back, on the tip of one's tongue, secretly, between the lines, thereby hangs a tale, tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus, where there's smoke, there's fire.For further exploring for "unknown" in Webster Dictionary Online