unread

un·read | \ ˌən-ˈred

How to pronounce unread (audio)

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Definition of unread

1 : not read : left unexamined

2 : lacking the experience or the benefits of reading unread in political science

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Examples of unread in a Sentence

On her desk was a pile of magazines that had been left unread for months. an officer who seemed to be completely unread in military theory

Recent Examples on the Web When faced with the thorny issues presented by withdrawal, which had presumably featured in those unread briefings, his response has been to throw up his hands and turn his back. — The Economist, "Donald Trump suddenly withdraws from northern Syria," 10 Oct. 2019 Click through to check out the best of the sale — trust us, this is way more important that those 25 unread emails. — Emily Ruane, refinery29.com, "The & Other Stories’ Winter Sale Can’t Be Missed," 7 Jan. 2020 Inside it, for now, the teachers' messages remain unread. — CNN, "ICE detained a high school sophomore. His teachers tried to send him homework so he wouldn't fall behind," 10 Dec. 2019 Last Tuesday morning, my first unread email was from Influencer Intelligence, an analytics company that works with people who want to hire influencers and celebrities to advertise things. — Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, "The Instagram ‘It Girl’ Paradox," 16 Oct. 2019 Drug discovery gets delayed because information is locked up in unread literature. — Wired, "If Computers Are So Smart, How Come They Can’t Read?," 10 Sep. 2019 First reported by users on Twitter, the company now confirms that older messages are being treated as new, unread ones and popping up in the Messenger tab on Facebook.com. — Nick Statt, The Verge, "Facebook confirms years-old messages are randomly coming back to haunt users," 27 Nov. 2018 The failure within Bowes’ unit — and the discovery in late June of tens of thousands unread notices neatly organized in an Registry storage room — was just one of several that quietly played out for years within the agency. — Matt Stout, BostonGlobe.com, "Second RMV official fired in wake of scandal," 20 Aug. 2019 Returning to 3,000 unread emails is also not an appealing prospect, so five minutes deleting the detritus while the rest of the family is in the shower seems like a reasonable compromise. — The Economist, "Holidays are good for workers and companies alike," 8 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'unread.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

18 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Unread.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unread. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

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