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unread

unread

1 2.1
A message or book that has not been read yet
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈrɛd/
translation icon : sin leer
  • The letter from Birch's mother remained unread.
  • unread books
  • remain unread
  • unread messages

I have thousands of unread emails on my own inbox.

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Examples

  • Most people have unread books in their Kindle queue that they can't even remember buying.

    Blog text (33)
  • People will be buying more books, but more of them will be going unread.

    Blog text (20)
  • I think my life is too exciting a book to be left unread.

  • So I did a thing, I decided to write down every unread book on my shelf.

  • The book was still unread, and the spine cracked when I opened it.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • I have thousands of unread emails on my own inbox.

  • It is always a waste for great writing to go unread by an appreciative audience.

    Blog text (18)
  • We remembered that Jean-Paul Sartre called libraries "repositories of silence" where unread books are silent.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Back home, the Sunday paper lies unread on her kitchen table.

  • Papers from students I was advising lay on the desk, unread.

Synonyms

unviewed
vsunread
6.4

No one has seen it

is the broad term for items nobody has yet looked at
unwatched
vsunread
3.2

A film or video that few people watch

is the general term not limited to films or videos
unvisited
vsunread
  • Texting
4.3

An online page or file that no one has opened yet

is the general term not limited to user clicks or openings

How Read

read
176 2.8
to look at
1.0
unread
1 2.1
unopened
15 1.0

Surface Forms

unread positive
unreader comparative
unreadest superlative

Morphology

unread = read (transparent) = un + read

Standard negation of the verb/adjectival participle 'read' to mean 'not read'; this is directly inferable for learners who know 'read'.

Etymology

Unread comes from the parts un- 'not' and read, so it simply means 'not read'. When we use it for letters, books, or messages it means 'not yet read by anyone', as in 'unread emails'.