unbeknownst
unbeknownst Lexical Profile
unbeknownst Game Scores & Validity
• adverb
Without the knowledge or awareness of a specified person (used with "to").
"Unbeknownst to the committee, the keynote speaker had already accepted an invitation to another conference."
• adjective
Existing or occurring without the knowledge of someone (almost always followed by "to").
"The company was already on the verge of bankruptcy, a fact that remained completely unbeknownst to its junior employees."
Word Nuance & Usage
"Unbeknownst" is almost exclusively used with the preposition "to" (e.g., "unbeknownst to her") to introduce a sentence or clause; it is never used attributively directly before a noun.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Recorded from the mid-19th century as a dialectal variant of "unbeknown" (from Old English "beknāwan"), formed by adding the adverbial "-st" ending on the pattern of words like "amongst" and "whilst".