unofficially

«unofficially» in Mova's school dictionary: not in an official or formal way; not approved, announced… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adverb (unofficially)

meaning for a pupil

1) Unofficially means not in an official or formal way; not approved, announced or recorded by the people in charge. tree →

2) Unofficially can mean privately or secretly, before something is officially said. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday and school life: «unofficially, he's team captain», unofficial records, nicknames. In news: «unofficially, sources say». It tells the reader something is true or accepted but not formally approved yet.

examples

• Unofficially, Mia is the class's best speller. tree →
• The race was unofficially timed with a phone. tree →
• He was unofficially in charge of the snacks. tree →
• Unofficially, the teacher said we'd get a longer break. tree →
• The hill is unofficially called Dragon's Back. tree →
• The record was set unofficially, so it doesn't count. tree →

note

From «unofficial» + «-ly»; double f. Opposite: «officially». An unofficial record usually does not count in a competition.

In the corpora

• Only about a dozen countries officially recognise Taiwan as a country, though many more trade and talk with it unofficially.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «unofficially» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.