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Glite Dictionary
🔔 Not hit 🔥 Not lit 🪙 Not stamped
unstruck

unstruck

7.9
Not lit or set off, especially matches and fuses
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈstrʌk/
translation icon : sin encender
  • As I searched for a light, I found an unstruck match lying on the table.

Examples

  • The campers carefully inspected the box of matches, looking for an unstruck match to start the fire.

  • He knew that an unstruck fuse could save them from an explosion if they waited long enough.

  • Tell me, kid, says floppy hat, holding an unstruck match out in front of his fresh-made cigarillo.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Without waiting for an answer, she pulled the broom out of the closet and went to work in Mattie's room, sweeping the spilled and unstruck matches as well as the burned ones.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

unburned
vsunstruck
1 3.4

Not damaged by fire and still safe to enter

means not lit or set off rather than merely surviving a fire
unkindled
vsunstruck
1 9.9

Not set on fire, like logs or candles waiting to burn

has identical meaning but is often used for matches and fuses
unlighted
vsunstruck
5.8

Not burning, for example a candle

is used more for small ignitions like matches or fuses rather than lamps
undischarged
vsunstruck
  • Specialized
7.7

A bullet or shell that has not been fired and can still explode

applies to not being lit or set off rather than being live weaponry

How Lit

blazing
1 3.5
lit
1.0
unstruck
7.9

Surface Forms

unstruck positive

Morphology

unstruck = struck (transparent) = un + struck

The meaning is the negative of 'struck' in the sense 'ignited' (i.e., not ignited); learners who know 'to strike a match' should derive this.

Etymology

Unstruck combines un- 'not' with strike 'to rub and make fire', as in 'strike a match'. So unstruck means 'not lit' or 'not set off', which explains why an unused match or fuse is called unstruck.