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View synonyms for unexpected

unexpected

[ uhn-ik-spek-tid ]

adjective

  1. not expected; unforeseen; surprising:

    an unexpected pleasure;

    an unexpected development.



unexpected

/ ˌʌnɪkˈspɛktɪd /

adjective

  1. surprising or unforeseen


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Derived Forms

  • ˌunexˈpectedly, adverb
  • ˌunexˈpectedness, noun

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Other Words From

  • un·ex·pect·ed·ly adverb
  • un·ex·pect·ed·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of unexpected1

First recorded in 1580–90; un- 1 + expect + -ed 2

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Synonym Study

See sudden.

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Example Sentences

It’s not particularly Dickensian or Miltonian, though it does feature a wholly unexpected extended riff on Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.

From Vox

One day, Selin strikes up an email correspondence with a boy she’s barely spoken to, and their relationship begins to develop in strange and unexpected ways.

From Vox

He had unexpected success in managing Japan’s fraught relationships with its most important ally, the United States, and its largest trade partner, China.

From Fortune

Manufacturers in some industries can expect unexpected events to erase the majority of a year’s profits over the course of a decade—and that’s just the baseline, accounting for probabilities like recurring storms and shipping snafus.

From Fortune

That geopolitical events would provide a push toward tech decoupling was unexpected.

From Fortune

Airline pilots are now slowly, too slowly, being given access to flight simulators able to reproduce sudden and unexpected upsets.

Now imagine that one day hope appeared, an unexpected opportunity to free yourself, to finally be yourself.

People always have to perceive the problems before them, including many unexpected nuances, and decide how to handle them.

And the chord structure, for those of you who play an instrument, is unexpected and worth checking out.

During this time, Mailer also displayed an unexpected humility in the company of his fellow literary stars.

Ripperda accompanied this unexpected refusal, with a laboured epistle to his imperial friend.

The wheezy, crazy mechanism of the car went to bits in unexpected places.

Money was again required to carry the reeling firm through unexpected difficulties.

Aristide leaped, in his unexpected fashion, from his chair and almost embraced him.

The lions stopped also, being evidently taken by surprise at the sudden and unexpected apparition of a man!

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gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

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unexcitingunexpectedly