unbeknown definitions

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: (usually used with `to') occurring or existing without the knowledge of; "a crisis unbeknown to me"; "she had been ill for months, unbeknownst to the family" [syn: unbeknown, unbeknownst] adv
1: without someone's knowledge; "unbeknownst to me, she made all the arrangements" [syn: unbeknown, unbeknownst]

Merriam Webster's

adjective see unbeknownst

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (also unbeknownst) (foll. by to) without the knowledge of (was there all the time unbeknown to us). Etymology: UN-(1) + beknown (archaic) = KNOWN

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Unbeknown Un`be*known", a. Not known; unknown. [Colloq.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Note: The form 'unbeknownst' is also used. If something happens unbeknown to you or unbeknownst to you, you do not know about it. I am appalled that children can mount up debts unbeknown to their parents... Unbeknownst to her father, she began taking dancing lessons. PREP-PHRASE

Moby Thesaurus

able, enigmatic, incalculable, incognizable, mysterious, puzzling, sealed, strange, unapparent, unapprehended, unascertained, uncharted, unclassified, undisclosed, undiscoverable, undiscovered, undivulged, unexplained, unexplored, unexposed, unfamiliar, unfathomed, unheard, unheard-of, unidentified, uninvestigated, unknowable, unknown, unperceived, unplumbed, unrevealed, unsuspected, untouched, virgin