😮 Not expected to win 🍲 Plain or simple

unfancied

7.0

Not expected to win in a competition

adjective
/ʌnˈfænsiːd/

: no favorito

Despite being an unfancied contender, she managed to win the competition.

Examples

Mancini couldn't get any further than the quarter-finals the next season either, and his side lost out to the unfancied Villarreal.

Blog text (9)
The unfancied team surprised everyone by reaching the finals of the tournament.
The movie became a hit, despite its unfancied cast and low budget.

Synonyms

unsung

vsunfancied

22 6.3

A person who does important work without praise or credit

emphasizes low expectation or popularity rather than being overlooked despite merit

unheralded

vsunfancied

2 7.0

Not praised or noticed by the public

focuses on being seen as unlikely to succeed or unpopular rather than unnoticed

unseeded

vsunfancied

5.5

A player or team not given a ranking in a tournament

is about low public expectation or popularity rather than official tournament rank

Antonyms

favored

3.7

A person who gets better treatment and more benefits than others

How Likely

favored

3.7

expected

1.2

unlikely

487 1.9

unfancied

7.0

Surface Forms

unfancied positive

Morphology

unfancied = fancied (transparent) = un + fancy + ed

The word is formed by adding the negating prefix 'un-' to 'fancied' (fancy + -ed); the meaning 'not fancied / not considered likely or popular' follows directly.

Etymology

Unfancied comes from un- meaning 'not' and fancy meaning 'to like' or 'imagine', so it basically means 'not liked' or 'not thought likely'. So an unfancied candidate is someone people did not expect to win or did not choose as a favorite.