unreturned
3
4.4
- adjective
- /ˌʌn.rɪˈtɜrnd/
:
no devuelto
- Periodically, I come across the evidence of our friendship: unreturned books, birthday cards, and the set of faulty keys.
- unreturned calls
- unreturned messages
- unreturned ballots
Examples
-
Attempts were made to contact each foundation, but many went unreturned.
Blog text (13) -
An email to members of the Obama transition team, asking for comment or the chance to speak with Craig, went unreturned.
Blog text (22) -
I stop at seven unreturned calls.
-
Well, that explains the unreturned phone calls.
-
Dr. Schaller happily complied, but after several months, the documents remained unreturned.
Blog text (5) -
My natural inclination is to avoid uncomfortable situations, so I've turned down many invitations over the past years and let phone calls go unreturned.
Blog text (17) -
As my repeated calls to the Manhattan Board of Elections went unreturned, the most significant help I could receive for my plight was the constant refrain: "our entire computer system is down."
Blog text (4) -
The HPR's calls to the New York Board of Elections went unreturned, and no statistics have currently been published about the number of people requesting absentee ballots who have been unable to receive them.
Blog text (4) -
After several unreturned calls, she finally decided to send a message instead.
-
His unreturned texts made her wonder if he was still interested.
Synonyms
85
3.0
Not returned by the other person, as in love or feelings
17
8.3
Feeling love for someone who does not love you back
Surface Forms
Morphology
unreturned = returned (transparent) = un + return + ed
Formed by productive negation 'un-' + the adjectival past participle 'returned', yielding a straightforward negative meaning.
Etymology
Unreturned is made of un- meaning 'not' and return meaning 'to give back', and return is like the familiar word turn, 'to move back'. So unreturned simply describes something that was 'not given back', 'not replied to', or 'not returned in feeling'.