plural unsubs
US law enforcement, informal
: the unknown perpetrator of a crime
Not one but two murderous unsubs are on the loose in tonight's Criminal Minds …—
TV Guide
TV GuideRhyme remembered the thousands of times he'd run crime scenes. Sometimes a miracle would happen. He'd be looking around and somehow ideas about the unsub would come to him. He couldn't explain how.—Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery DeaverExamples of unsub in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The trauma of her shooting and the pressure of her job leads to the BAU agent shooting an unsub.
—Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 10 June 2024
The 40-second clip depicted the BAU agents in a number of different scenarios and suggested Prentiss died after the events with the unsub Ian Doyle in season 6.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 1 Apr. 2023
The 10-episode series from original series writer and producer Erica Messer will have a COVID-19 pandemic twist this time around as the criminal profilers track down a new unsub, who has built a network of serial killers during quarantine.
—Jessica Wang, EW.com, 13 Sep. 2022
Debuting on September 22, Criminal Minds follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub (unknown subject).
—Marc Berman, Forbes, 15 July 2022
The real masterstroke is casting Zach Gilford as the prime unsub, the spiritual leader of a nationwide network of murderous acolytes.
—Joshua Alston, Variety, 21 Nov. 2022
Fairly quickly, the agents ruled out a foreign power as the culprit, deciding that the unsub must be a C.I.A. insider.
—Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 10 June 2024
The 40-second clip depicted the BAU agents in a number of different scenarios and suggested Prentiss died after the events with the unsub Ian Doyle in season 6.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 1 Apr. 2023
The 10-episode series from original series writer and producer Erica Messer will have a COVID-19 pandemic twist this time around as the criminal profilers track down a new unsub, who has built a network of serial killers during quarantine.
—Jessica Wang, EW.com, 13 Sep. 2022
Debuting on September 22, Criminal Minds follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) using behavioral analysis and profiling to help investigate crimes and find the suspect known as the unsub (unknown subject).
—Marc Berman, Forbes, 15 July 2022
The real masterstroke is casting Zach Gilford as the prime unsub, the spiritual leader of a nationwide network of murderous acolytes.
—Joshua Alston, Variety, 21 Nov. 2022
Fairly quickly, the agents ruled out a foreign power as the culprit, deciding that the unsub must be a C.I.A. insider.
—Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022
Cite this Entry
“Unsub.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unsub. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share