"unwittingly" meaning in English

See unwittingly in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

IPA: /ʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌʌnˈwɪtɪŋli/ [General-American], /ˌən-/ [General-American], /-ɾɪŋ-/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-unwittingly.flac [General-American], en-au-unwittingly.ogg [Australia] Forms: more unwittingly [comparative], most unwittingly [superlative]
Etymology: unwitting + -ly. Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|unwitting|ly}} unwitting + -ly Head templates: {{en-adv}} unwittingly (comparative more unwittingly, superlative most unwittingly)
  1. In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally, unknowingly. Related terms: unweeting [obsolete], unwitting, unwittingness, witting, wittingly Translations (in an unwitting manner): nevědomky (Czech), ongewild (Dutch), involontairement (French), უნებლიედ (uneblied) (Georgian), შემთხვევით (šemtxvevit) (Georgian), unbeabsichtigt (German), unabsichtlich (German), ungewollt (German), irrtümlich (German), αθέλητα (athélita) (Greek), gan fhios (Irish), go haineolach (Irish), go hainbhiosach (Irish), gan fhios duit féin (Irish), involontariamente (Italian), inconsapevolmente (Italian), neviļus (Latvian), negribot (Latvian), neucheeayllagh (Manx), gyn yss dhyt hene (Manx), bezwiednie (Polish), nieświadomie (Polish), gun fhiosta (Scottish Gaelic), sin querer (Spanish), accidentalmente (Spanish), sin comerlo ni beberlo (Spanish), oavsiktligt (Swedish), omedvetet (Swedish), ovetandes (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-unwittingly-en-adv-IcK72gs4 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ly

Download JSON data for unwittingly meaning in English (8.3kB)

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        "1": "en",
        "2": "unwitting",
        "3": "ly"
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      "expansion": "unwitting + -ly",
      "name": "suffix"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "unwitting + -ly.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more unwittingly",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most unwittingly",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "unwittingly (comparative more unwittingly, superlative most unwittingly)",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "un‧wit‧ting‧ly"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "advertently"
        },
        {
          "word": "consciously"
        },
        {
          "word": "deliberately"
        },
        {
          "word": "knowingly"
        },
        {
          "word": "intentionally"
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          "word": "purposely"
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She realized to her horror that she had unwittingly helped those people she most despised.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1666, John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: […], London: Printed by George Larkin, →OCLC; republished as Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners in a Faithful Account of the Life and Death of John Bunyan: […], London: The Religious Tract Society, […], [1905], →OCLC, paragraphs 218–219, page 123",
          "text": "[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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "1697, John Hale, “The Preface”, in A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft, […], Boston, Mass.: Printed by B[artholomew] Green, and J[ohn] Allen, for Benjamin Eliot […], published 1702, →OCLC, page 11; reprinted in “Memoir of the Rev. John Hale”, in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, volume VII (Third Series), Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, 1838, →OCLC, page 264",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955 June 27, Gordon H[arry] Scherer (questioner), “Testimony of Mrs. Anita Bell Schneider”, in Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles, Calif., Area—Part 1: Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-fourth Congress, First Session, June 27 and 28, 1955: […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 1507",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, ‘Playboy’ Founder, Dead at 91: Legendary Magazine Editor Helped Spark the Sexual Revolution”, in Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 2018-03-15",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 July 13, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 961, page 71",
          "text": "\"She had asked at Paddington for a return to Lympstone on the Exmouth branch, where her son was due to pass out as a Royal Marine that afternoon, at the local training camp.\n\"Presumably, the booking clerk had misheard her and sold her a ticket to Leominster, and other helpful staff had unwittingly helped her on her way.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally, unknowingly."
      ],
      "id": "en-unwittingly-en-adv-IcK72gs4",
      "links": [
        [
          "unwitting",
          "unwitting"
        ],
        [
          "inadvertently",
          "inadvertently"
        ],
        [
          "obliviously",
          "obliviously"
        ],
        [
          "unintentionally",
          "unintentionally"
        ],
        [
          "unknowingly",
          "unknowingly"
        ]
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      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "unweeting"
        },
        {
          "word": "unwitting"
        },
        {
          "word": "unwittingness"
        },
        {
          "word": "witting"
        },
        {
          "word": "wittingly"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "nevědomky"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "ongewild"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "involontairement"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "uneblied",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "უნებლიედ"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "šemtxvevit",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "შემთხვევით"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "unbeabsichtigt"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "unabsichtlich"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "ungewollt"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "irrtümlich"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "athélita",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "αθέλητα"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "gan fhios"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "go haineolach"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "go hainbhiosach"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "gan fhios duit féin"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "involontariamente"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "inconsapevolmente"
        },
        {
          "code": "lv",
          "lang": "Latvian",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "neviļus"
        },
        {
          "code": "lv",
          "lang": "Latvian",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "negribot"
        },
        {
          "code": "gv",
          "lang": "Manx",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "neucheeayllagh"
        },
        {
          "code": "gv",
          "lang": "Manx",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "gyn yss dhyt hene"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "bezwiednie"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "nieświadomie"
        },
        {
          "code": "gd",
          "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "gun fhiosta"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "sin querer"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "accidentalmente"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "sin comerlo ni beberlo"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "oavsiktligt"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "omedvetet"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
          "word": "ovetandes"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "ipa": "/ˌən-/",
      "tags": [
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      "ipa": "/-ɾɪŋ-/",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/En-au-unwittingly.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "etymology_text": "unwitting + -ly.",
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      "form": "more unwittingly",
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        "comparative"
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      "form": "most unwittingly",
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        "superlative"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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      "tags": [
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      "word": "unweeting"
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      "word": "unwitting"
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      "word": "unwittingness"
    },
    {
      "word": "witting"
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      "word": "wittingly"
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          "word": "advertently"
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        {
          "word": "consciously"
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        {
          "word": "deliberately"
        },
        {
          "word": "knowingly"
        },
        {
          "word": "intentionally"
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        {
          "word": "purposely"
        }
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        "English terms suffixed with -ly",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
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        {
          "text": "She realized to her horror that she had unwittingly helped those people she most despised.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1666, John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: […], London: Printed by George Larkin, →OCLC; republished as Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners in a Faithful Account of the Life and Death of John Bunyan: […], London: The Religious Tract Society, […], [1905], →OCLC, paragraphs 218–219, page 123",
          "text": "[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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1697, John Hale, “The Preface”, in A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft, […], Boston, Mass.: Printed by B[artholomew] Green, and J[ohn] Allen, for Benjamin Eliot […], published 1702, →OCLC, page 11; reprinted in “Memoir of the Rev. John Hale”, in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, volume VII (Third Series), Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, 1838, →OCLC, page 264",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1955 June 27, Gordon H[arry] Scherer (questioner), “Testimony of Mrs. Anita Bell Schneider”, in Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles, Calif., Area—Part 1: Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-fourth Congress, First Session, June 27 and 28, 1955: […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 1507",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, ‘Playboy’ Founder, Dead at 91: Legendary Magazine Editor Helped Spark the Sexual Revolution”, in Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 2018-03-15",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 July 13, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 961, page 71",
          "text": "\"She had asked at Paddington for a return to Lympstone on the Exmouth branch, where her son was due to pass out as a Royal Marine that afternoon, at the local training camp.\n\"Presumably, the booking clerk had misheard her and sold her a ticket to Leominster, and other helpful staff had unwittingly helped her on her way.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally, unknowingly."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "unwitting",
          "unwitting"
        ],
        [
          "inadvertently",
          "inadvertently"
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          "obliviously",
          "obliviously"
        ],
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          "unintentionally",
          "unintentionally"
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          "unknowingly",
          "unknowingly"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "nevědomky"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "ongewild"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "involontairement"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "uneblied",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "უნებლიედ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "šemtxvevit",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "შემთხვევით"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "unbeabsichtigt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "unabsichtlich"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "ungewollt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "irrtümlich"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "athélita",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "αθέλητα"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "gan fhios"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "go haineolach"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "go hainbhiosach"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "gan fhios duit féin"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "involontariamente"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "inconsapevolmente"
    },
    {
      "code": "lv",
      "lang": "Latvian",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "neviļus"
    },
    {
      "code": "lv",
      "lang": "Latvian",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "negribot"
    },
    {
      "code": "gv",
      "lang": "Manx",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "neucheeayllagh"
    },
    {
      "code": "gv",
      "lang": "Manx",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "gyn yss dhyt hene"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "bezwiednie"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "nieświadomie"
    },
    {
      "code": "gd",
      "lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "gun fhiosta"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "sin querer"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "accidentalmente"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "sin comerlo ni beberlo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "oavsiktligt"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "omedvetet"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "in an unwitting manner",
      "word": "ovetandes"
    }
  ],
  "word": "unwittingly"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.