unanticipatedly

adverb

as in suddenly
without warning the unanticipatedly high fuel prices had many people wondering how they were going to keep warm that winter

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unanticipatedly
  1. suddenly
  2. unexpectedly
Adverb
  • Projects that communities had originally welcomed were suddenly met with fierce opposition, and companies had to improve.
    — Neil Chatterjee, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026
  • A lot of Asian American people have this experience of reading in lit courses about predominantly white authors and characters and suddenly there’s Lee, who is remarkably legible as someone inside of his social milieu yet almost a unicorn.
    — Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of suddenly
Adverb
  • February 19 – March 20 Something at home or in your private life could shift unexpectedly today.
    — Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Pisces February 19 – March 20 Something at home or in your private life could shift unexpectedly today.
    — Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of unexpectedly
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

unanticipated
unanticipatedly
unapologetic
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Unanticipatedly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unanticipatedly. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of shindig

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All