unknown
part of speech
adjective, noun (unknown, unknowns)
meaning for a pupil
1) Unknown means not known: an unknown number. tree →
2) Unknown means not famous: an unknown singer. tree →
3) In maths the unknown is the number you are trying to find, often written as a letter like x or as a box. tree →
4) The unknown is everything we do not know yet: a journey into the unknown. tree →
sense in the lessons
Maths: the number to be found, often written as a letter or a box: «the unknown number plus 5 is 12»; work back from what is given. Science: explorers and scientists study the unknown. Stories: an unknown visitor, the unknown soldier.
examples
- The unknown number plus 5 is 12. tree →
- Find the unknown. tree →
- An unknown number of birds flew away. tree →
- Let x be the unknown. tree →
- The letter came from an unknown sender. tree →
- Space is full of unknown worlds. tree →
- The painter was unknown until after she died. tree →
- Then, silently, he let himself go into the unknown. tree →
note
Adjective and noun. Marks the quantity the question asks for; work back from what is given (unknown + 5 = 12, so unknown = 12 − 5). Trap: «an unknown number flew away» often must be found by subtraction. Safety: do not open messages from unknown people.
In the corpora
- Context clues can help you work out the meaning of an unknown word.
- You should go into unknown water feet first, because it may be shallow or hide rocks.
- You should never taste, sniff or drink anything from an unknown bottle or container.
- Clicking on unknown links or pop-ups can bring viruses or tricks.
- Unknown callers could be scammers, so a parent answers or the call is ignored.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «unknown» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.