Word.ws English Dictionary

unawares

/ˌʌnəˈwɛə(ɹ)z/

unawares adverb: unexpectedly or by surprise.

Adverb

unawares (not comparable)

  1. Unexpectedly or by surprise.
    • Your question catches/takes me unawares, I don't know the answer right now...
    • And I with these untoward thoughts had striven, / I saw a Man before me unawares: / The oldest Man he seemed that ever wore grey hairs.1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence
  2. Inadvertently.
    • I'm afraid I've taken the wrong coat, unawares.
  3. Without plan or forethought.

unawares meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

unawares in Hindi

unawares
बेख़बर bexabar

unawares in Urdu

ناگاہ

unawares in Malayalam

ഓർക്കാതെ, ഓർക്കാപ്പുറത്ത്, നിനിച്ചിരിക്കാതെ, പെട്ടെന്ന്

unawares in Kannada

ತಿಳಿಯದ ಹಾಗೆ, ಎದುರುನೋಡದ, ಅನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿತವಾಗಿ, ಹಠಾತ್ತಾಗಿ, ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದೆ
More languagesFewer languages
unawares in Sanskrit
अम्नस् amnas

Examples of unawares in a sentence

  • They were taken unawares and overcome when the room filled with a lethal, odorless gas.
  • They were taken unawares and overcome when the room filled with a lethal, odourless gas.
  • Deepwood is a motte-and-bailey castle in the midst of thick forest, easy to creep up on unawares.

All 10 example sentences with unawares

Origin of unawares

From unaware + -s (adverbial suffix). Attested earlier than unaware.

Words that rhyme with unawares

26 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about unawares

What does unawares mean?
Unawares means unexpectedly or by surprise.
What is unawares in Hindi?
Unawares in Hindi is बेख़बर (bexabar). See Unawares meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is unawares?
Unawares is an adverb.
How do you pronounce unawares?
Unawares is pronounced /ˌʌnəˈwɛə(ɹ)z/.

Words near unawares in the dictionary

  1. unaware
  2. unawared
  3. unawarely
  4. unawareness
  5. unawarenesses
  6. unawares
  7. unawed
  8. unawesome
  9. unawkward
  10. unawned
  11. unawoken

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unawares (page history and authors); बेख़बर (Hindi) (page history and authors); unawares (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unawares (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unawares (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-unawares.wav.

Cite this entry: “unawares.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unawares. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.