Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In an unexpected manner; at a time or in a manner not expected or looked for; suddenly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In an unexpected manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in a way that was not expected
  • adverb without advance planning

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

unexpected +‎ -ly.

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Examples

  • He had come into his title unexpectedly, and made his new tenantry adore him.

    Peak and Prairie From a Colorado Sketch-book Anna Fuller 1884

  • The Democratic Alliance on Thursday said it was glad to see what it called the unexpectedly drastic increase in the number of matriculants who passed the 2000 examination at government schools.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2000

  • Judith Viorst has turned what she calls unexpectedly 80.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • Judith Viorst has turned what she calls unexpectedly 80.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • Judith Viorst has turned what she calls unexpectedly 80.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • And thus it came to pass that “modern technology,” in the form of the newfangled Internet, fell rudely and unexpectedly from the sky, inexplicably landing on the heads of various lawyers, despite the fact that those very same heads were buried, willfully, deep in the sand.

    Sui Generis--a New York law blog: 2009

  • And thus it came to pass that “modern technology,” in the form of the newfangled Internet, fell rudely and unexpectedly from the sky, inexplicably landing on the heads of various lawyers, despite the fact that those very same heads were buried, willfully, deep in the sand.

    Daily Record--Legal Currents Column 2009

  • Republicans are pressing their case in unexpectedly close races in other states.

    Parties Scramble to Adapt to Shifting Political Scene Naftali Bendavid 2010

  • It travels really well-trodden narrative territory in unexpectedly delicate ways.

    17 « September « 2009 « The Manga Curmudgeon 2009

  • It travels really well-trodden narrative territory in unexpectedly delicate ways.

    Checking in with IKKI 2009

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