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UNFAMILIAR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not known or well known
Example:
be alert at night especially in unfamiliar surroundings
Classified under:
Similar:
strange; unknown (not known before)
unacquainted; unacquainted with; unfamiliar with (having little or no knowledge of)
Also:
foreign; strange (relating to or originating in or characteristic of another place or part of the world)
unknown (not known)
Attribute:
familiarity (usualness by virtue of being familiar or well known)
Antonym:
familiar (well known or easily recognized)
Derivation:
unfamiliarity (unusualness as a consequence of not being well known)
Context examples:
As for himself, from moment to moment the conversation showed him gaps and open stretches, whole subjects with which he was unfamiliar.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He could not express what he felt, and to himself he likened himself to a sailor, in a strange ship, on a dark night, groping about in the unfamiliar running rigging.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Follow her he did, though bothered by unfamiliar words that fell glibly from her lips and by critical phrases and thought-processes that were foreign to his mind, but that nevertheless stimulated his mind and set it tingling.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He went out to the open vestibule and sat down on a folding-chair, and the station slid away and the backs of unfamiliar buildings moved by.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
They shook hands briefly and a strained, unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby's face.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
That unfamiliar yet recognizable look was back again in Gatsby's face.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
I found the humidor on an unfamiliar table with two stale dry cigarettes inside.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
"Yes?" The name was unfamiliar.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
She walked close to Gatsby, touching his coat with her hand. Jordan and Tom and I got into the front seat of Gatsby's car, Tom pushed the unfamiliar gears tentatively and we shot off into the oppressive heat leaving them out of sight behind.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
