unaware
adjective
Simple meaning
Not knowing about something that is happening or true.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnuhwehrSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənəˈwɛɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not aware or informed; lacking knowledge; unmindful.
Not noticing; paying no heed; thoughtless; inattentive; oblivious.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Unaware means a person has not noticed or does not know about something.
- un-
- not, or without
- aware
- knowing something is happening
Prefix function , Not — expresses absence of the quality
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not aware or informed; lacking knowledge; unmindful.
Used this way, unaware is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use unaware
- “Seemed unaware of the scrutiny.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.