as in sudden
not expected ran into some unanticipated difficulties with the computer program

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of unanticipated The work of the eclectic American futurist exerted a profound and unanticipated influence on China’s digital transformation since the 1980s. Howard W. French, The New York Review of Books, 10 Apr. 2025 Whitney Gravelle, president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, explained that the tribes had a plan with the Army Corps and Enbridge for unanticipated discoveries, knowing there was a high likelihood that human remains or artifacts of cultural significance would be found during the survey process. Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025 By the early ’80s, however, California lawmakers had already begun discussing reforms to the legislation to address its unanticipated consequences — among them, making development a financially prohibitive prospect. The Editors, National Review, 2 July 2025 Republican leaders are pitching the Medicaid crackdown in response to the program's ballooning budget and, in particular, the unanticipated $1 billion budget shortfall discovered in late 2023. Kayla Dwyer, IndyStar, 2 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for unanticipated
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unanticipated
Adjective
  • The tragedy in Ruidoso highlights growing concerns about increasingly intense weather systems striking communities with little time to prepare for sudden surges of water.
    Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 July 2025
  • In one particularly raw moment, a woman studying the photographs let out a sudden shriek.
    Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 12 July 2025
Adjective
  • And our sandwiches in the South are creative and sometimes unexpected.
    Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 14 July 2025
  • Workers installing a water pipeline in Croatia made an unexpected discovery, unearthing the remains of an 18th-century wooden boat.
    Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 13 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Unanticipated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unanticipated. Accessed 25 Jul. 2025.

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