UNSPOKEN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does unspoken mean? 

• UNSPOKEN (adjective)
  The adjective UNSPOKEN has 2 senses:

1. expressed without speech

2. not made explicit

  Familiarity information: UNSPOKEN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNSPOKEN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expressed without speech

Synonyms:

mute; tongueless; unspoken; wordless

Context example:

choking exasperation and wordless shame

Similar:

inarticulate; unarticulate (without or deprived of the use of speech or words)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not made explicit

Synonyms:

unexpressed; unsaid; unspoken; unstated; unuttered; unverbalised; unverbalized; unvoiced

Context example:

his action is clear but his reason remains unstated

Similar:

implicit; inexplicit (implied though not directly expressed; inherent in the nature of something)

 Context examples 

I read the unspoken question there: was it right?

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was the best thing he could have done, far more soothing than the most eloquent words, for Jo felt the unspoken sympathy, and in the silence learned the sweet solace which affection administers to sorrow.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You remember, he said, that some little time ago when I read you the passage in one of Poe’s sketches in which a close reasoner follows the unspoken thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour-de-force of the author.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Rochester had sometimes read my unspoken thoughts with an acumen to me incomprehensible: in the present instance he took no notice of my abrupt vocal response; but he smiled at me with a certain smile he had of his own, and which he used but on rare occasions.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“A what?” Wolf Larsen asked, a peculiar softness in his voice, as though he were overwhelmingly curious to hear the unspoken word.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And as though answering my unspoken thought, he wailed: I never ’ad no chance, not ’arf a chance! ’Oo was there to send me to school, or put tommy in my ’ungry belly, or wipe my bloody nose for me, w’en I was a kiddy? ’Oo ever did anything for me, heh? ’Oo, I s’y?

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)