as in oral
made or carried on through speaking rather than in writing
an unwritten contract may not be enforceable
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Recent Examples of unwritten
After a 3-0 loss forced the Cubs into Thursday’s elimination game, Crow-Armstrong’s signature postseason moment remains unwritten.
—
Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
If my office is later notified that the city has adopted or implemented a policy, whether written or unwritten, that contravenes the statute, the city will again become ineligible for discretionary State funds.
—Nwa Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2025
And while the dress code for women is unwritten, and thus open to interpretation, Melania’s strapless outfit existed at its very fringes.
—Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 18 Sep. 2025
Improving culture means identifying the unwritten rules and deciding which ones help your strategy and which hold you back.
—Tracy Lawrence, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unwritten
Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
If my office is later notified that the city has adopted or implemented a policy, whether written or unwritten, that contravenes the statute, the city will again become ineligible for discretionary State funds.
—Nwa Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2025
And while the dress code for women is unwritten, and thus open to interpretation, Melania’s strapless outfit existed at its very fringes.
—Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 18 Sep. 2025
Improving culture means identifying the unwritten rules and deciding which ones help your strategy and which hold you back.
—Tracy Lawrence, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unwritten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unwritten
Adjective
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Their oral immunization, called RotaTeq and delivered as a series of sugar-sweet drops to infants, would ultimately be licensed in 2006.—
Katherine J. Wu,
The Atlantic,
6 Jan. 2026
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The drug also worked better than a placebo and outperformed Amgen’s oral drug Otezla.—
Ed Silverman,
STAT,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Attorneys for the victims' families say the victims were three 10-year-old non-verbal boys with autism.—
Austen Erblat,
CBS News,
5 Jan. 2026
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Trump’s relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is just as volatile, ranging from verbal fistfights in the Oval Office to respectful deliberation.—
Daniel DePetris,
Twin Cities,
4 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The information also helped law enforcement unravel a case that has devastated the 13-year-old’s family and friends and the community where the soft-spoken teen, known as gentle and kind, lived.—
Laura Bauer,
Kansas City Star,
3 Jan. 2026
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The project veered toward her most experimental impulses, stretching to nearly 90 minutes of drones and eerie spoken word.—
Miguel Otárola,
Denver Post,
29 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unwritten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unwritten. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
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