unwittingly
/ˌʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.07 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally, unknowingly.
Example Sentences
- "She realized to her horror that she had unwittingly helped those people she most despised."
- "This morning, / Paprs of State he ſent me, to peruſe / As I required: and wot you what I found / There (on my Conſcience put vnwittingly) […]"
- "[O]nly now it remained that I inquire whether I have right to enter the city of refuge: so I found, that he must not, who lay in wait to shed blood: It was not the wilful murderer, but he who unwittingly did it, he who did it unawares; not out of spite, or grudge, or malice, he that shed it unwittingly: even he who did not hate his neighbour before. Wherefore, […] I thought verily I was the man that must enter, because I had smitten my neighbour unwittingly, and hated Him not aforetime."
- "I have had a deep sense of the sad consequences of mistakes, in things capital; and their impossibility of recovering when compleated; and what grief of heart it brings to a tender conscience, to have been unwittingly encouraging of the sufferings of the innocent."
- "Of course those ministers who did support this did so unwittingly in most instances, did they not? By unwittingly I mean not knowing that the whole program was controlled and dominated and instigated by the Communist Party."
- "In the fall of 2016, [Hugh] Hefner was the subject of rumors about his health. As per his wishes, he was to be buried in a crypt next to that of Marilyn Monroe, who'd unwittingly helped launch Playboy into the multi-million-dollar business it became."
Etymology
From Middle English on-wytyngly, un-wetandly, unweteynglye, unwetinglie, un-wetinglye, unwetyngly, unwitandly, unwitendely, unwitingly, unwittandly, unwityngli, unwityngly, unwytyngeleche, unwytyngli, equivalent to unwitting + -ly or un- + wittingly.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: on-wytyngly
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/
- British English: /ʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/