unbeknownst

unbeknownst

English

WOTD – 23 June 2012

Etymology

c. 1636: probably from unbeknown +‎ -st

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌnbɪˈnoʊnst/

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• Audio (US)

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Adverb

unbeknownst (not comparable)

1. (followed by to) without the knowledge of

   He went home early, unbeknownst to his mother.

   • 2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     Theon’s redemption scene convincingly threatens to kill him right there on the beaches of Dragonstone, dying for a good cause unbeknownst to anyone but the rapscallions who watched him die, but at last it swerves into something genuinely heroic.

Synonyms

• unbeknown, unknown

Translations

Without the knowledge of

Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Danish: please add this translation if you can Dutch: buiten medeweten van Finnish: (genitive +) tietämättä French: à l’insu de (fr) German: ohne Wissen

Italian: all'insaputa (di) Polish: bez wiedzy Portuguese: sem o conhecimento de Russian: без ве́дома (ru) (bez védoma) Spanish: (literally) sin el conocimiento de m, desconocido (es) m Swedish: någon ovetande, någon ovetandes (=unbeknownst to somebody) Welsh: heb yn wybod i