Word.ws English Dictionary

unoften

Syllables: un·oft·en/(ˌ)ʌnˈɒf(t)ən/US/(ˌ)ʌnˈɔf(t)ən/

unoften adverb: not often; rarely, seldom.

Adverb

unoften (comparative more unoften, superlative most unoften)

  1. (literary except India) Not often; rarely, seldom.
    • [B]evvare of Paſſion, as the moſt Capital enemy to the Crovvn and Empire of Reaſon: for thoſe Sons of Thunder […] if vve mark the Cataſtrophe of their turbulent lives vve ſhall find them concluded in a tempeſt, and not unoften like the Phœnix expire in a funerall pile themeſelves had kindled.1657, [William Sprigg], “An Appendix of Brief Advice to Students”, in Philosophicall Essayes with Brief Adviso’s. […], London: […] J[ohn] S[treater] for Robert Blaggrave, […], →OCLC, section 13...
    • In ſummer, it removes to ſome diſtance from the houſes, alvvays chooſing the lovver countries about the mills and ſtreams, hiding itſelf among the buſhes, in order to catch the birds, and not unoften taking up its habitation in the hollovv of an old vvillovv, vvhere the female may vvith greater...1775, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Weasel”, in W[illiam] Kenrick, J[ohn] Murdoch, transl., The Natural History of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals; with the...

Examples of unoften in a sentence

  • It is natural on the part of the representatives of these areas to put up, not unoften, fight against the promulgated laws.1974, V[ladimir] V[ladimirovich] Yakhontov, “Economic Importance”, in Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, transl., The Alfalfa...
  • Not unoften do rural women work at the spinning wheel.2004, Parmanand Parashar, “The Folklore and Songs”, in Kashmir: The Paradise of Asia, New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, →ISBN, page 330:

Synonyms of unoften

All synonyms of unoften

Forms of unoften

comparativemore unoften
superlativemost unoften

Origin of unoften

PIE word *upó From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + often.

Words that rhyme with unoften

Questions about unoften

What does unoften mean?
Unoften means not often; rarely, seldom.
How do you use unoften in a sentence?
It is natural on the part of the representatives of these areas to put up, not unoften, fight against the promulgated laws.
What part of speech is unoften?
Unoften is an adverb.
How do you pronounce unoften?
Unoften is pronounced /(ˌ)ʌnˈɒf(t)ən/ (UK).

Words near unoften in the dictionary

  1. unofficinal
  2. unofficious
  3. unofficiously
  4. unofficiousness
  5. unoffset
  6. unoften
  7. unogeniture
  8. unogled
  9. UNOI
  10. unoil
  11. unoiled

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unoften (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-unoften.wav.

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