unlooked for

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

un- + looked for + -ed.

Adjective

unlooked for (comparative more unlooked for, superlative most unlooked for)

  1. Not expected or anticipated; unforeseen.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene 3]:
      A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege,
      And all unlook’d for from your highness’ mouth:
    • 1865, Edward Hayes Plumptre (translator), Philoctetes in The Tragedies of Sophocles, London: Isbister, Appendix, page 495,
      And now he perisheth
      With this unlooked for, undeservèd death:
    • 1906, Charles G. D. Roberts, The Heart That Knows, Boston: L. C. Page, Chapter 21,
      The attack was so utterly unlooked for, and delivered with such force, moreover, from the advantage of the step, that Tommy Coxen was knocked clean over, falling on his back with Seth on top of him.
    • 2002, Paul Brown, “Pesticide fear for fruit eaters,” The Guardian, 20 June, 2002,
      Strawberries and cream at Wimbledon next week could have an unlooked-for extra ingredient—an illegal pesticide.
  2. Not looked for, not searched for.

Synonyms
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