different between unaware vs unknowing

English

Etymology

un- +? aware

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n??w??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??n??w??/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /??n??we??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Adjective

unaware (comparative more unaware, superlative most unaware)

1. Not aware or informed; lacking knowledge.

   I'm unaware of the answer to that question.

   Luckily, she was unaware that I'd spent the last five years in prison.

   • 1989, Journal of contemporary psychotherapy, Volume 19

     The more unaware the self is of other selves, that is, the more complete the splits, the greater the degree of schizoid pathology.

2. Not noticing; paying no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
   • 1716, Jonathan Swift, Phyllis, or the Progress of Love

     Or on the mat devoutly kneeling,
     Would lift her eyes up to the ceiling,
     And heave her bosom unaware
     For neighbouring beaux to see it bare.

Synonyms

• (not aware or informed; lacking knowledge): clueless

Derived terms

• unawares adverb

See also

• unware

Translations

English

Etymology

From un- +? knowing.

Adjective

unknowing (comparative more unknowing, superlative most unknowing)

1. Without knowing; ignorant.
2. (obsolete) Unknown, unbeknownst (to someone).
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke II:

     And when they had fulfilled the dayes, as they returned home, the chylde Jesus boode styll in hierusalem, vnknowinge to his father and mother.

Translations

Noun

unknowing (plural unknowings)

1. Absence of knowledge; ignorance of something.
   • 2011, E. L. McCallum, Mikko Tuhkanen, Queer Times, Queer Becomings (page 320)

     Only later in the performance do we get that diegetically earlier moment, the moment when still earlier questions, fears, knowings, and unknowings congeal into the medical diagnosis of “positive.”