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unread

adjective

  1. not read
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Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈʌn.ɹɛd/ / /ˈʌn.ɹiːd/

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English read English unread From un- + read.

  1. Not having been read.

    1700, Charles Hopkins, The Art of Love, (after Ovid’s Ars Amatoria), London: Joseph Wild, “The Muse,” p. 36, At first, perhaps, unread your Note’s return’d, Your Person slighted, and your Passion scorn’d.

    ‘Private: for the hands of J. G. Utterson alone and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unread,’ so it was emphatically superscribed; and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents.

  2. Not having read; uneducated.

    In fortune’s love […] the bold and coward, The wise and fool, the artist and unread, The hard and soft seem all affined and kin: But, in the wind and tempest of her frown, Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan, Puffing at all, winnows the light away;

    1796, Elizabeth Inchbald, Nature and Art, Dublin: P. Wogan et al., Chapter 22, p. 111, The only child of two doating parents, she never had been taught the necessity of resignation—untutored, unread, unused to reflect, but knowing how to feel […]

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English read English unread From un- + read.

  1. An unread email or instant message.

    You will have fewer 'Unreads' staring at you from your Inbox, and will feel—and be—more productive.

    I flipped from the calendar app to the email app and logged in to view Cooper's. The unreads were staggering; I'd have to triage them later.

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English read English unread From un- + read.

  1. To undo the process of reading.

    That book was terrible! I wish I could unread it.

  2. To flag (a previously read e-mail or similar message) as not having been read.