Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not usual or accustomed.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not wonted; not common; uncommon; unusual; infrequent; rare: as, an unwonted sight; unwonted changes.
- Unaccustomed; unused; not made familiar by practice: as, a child unwonted to strangers.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not wonted; unaccustomed; unused; not made familiar by practice.
- adjective Uncommon; unusual; infrequent; rare.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not
customary orhabitual ;unusual ;infrequent ;strange . - adjective archaic Unused (to);
unaccustomed (to) something.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective out of the ordinary
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Then, with the waywardness of action which thought and feeling often take in unwonted situations, she began to wonder whether it could be right to be there – not only for her, but for anybody.
The Old Helmet 1864
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He recalled the unwonted agitation of Captain Vere and his excited exclamations so at variance with his normal manner.
Billy Budd 1924
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Tertullian seems to have often found it necessary to coin unwonted forms of expression, or rather to invent an ecclesiastical nomenclature.
The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution 1854
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The same day shee was agen taken with a new kind of unwonted fitt, in which, after shee had bin awhile exercised with violence shee got her a sheet [?] & went up & downe, thrusting & pushing, here & there, & anon looking out at a window, & cryed
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My pulse rushed up in an unwonted manner, yet my rage mounted with it.
Chapter 26 2010
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But the next instant, one of the boatmen, placidly lighting his pipe, was startled by an unwonted harshness in his captain's voice.
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But whensoever the call came, being so constituted, it was manifest that he should adapt, should adjust himself to the unwonted pressure of new conditions.
CHAPTER 7 2010
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I to know that his willingness to talk was most unwonted and was where the liquor gave him away.
CHAPTER II 2010
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In a moment, however, all the unwonted sensations were gone.
CHAPTER XIII 2010
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And here on the crest, three hours afterward, he emerged, tired and sweaty, garments torn and face and hands scratched, but with sparkling eyes and an unwonted zestfulness of expression.
Chapter VIII 2010
bilby commented on the word unwonted
"She paused again, a little breathless with the unwonted length of her speech, and sat with her lips slightly parted and a deep blush on her cheeks."
- Edith Wharton, 'The Age of Innocence'.
September 20, 2009