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Unfamiliar vs Unexpected - What's the difference?

unfamiliar | unexpected |

As adjectives the difference between unfamiliar and unexpected

is that unfamiliar is strange, not familiar while unexpected is not expected, anticipated or foreseen.

As a noun unfamiliar

is an unfamiliar person; a stranger.

unfamiliar

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Strange, not familiar.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=October 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=United were second-best for long periods as they struggled to adapt to an unfamiliar line-up and were ultimately fortunate to leave Merseyside with their unbeaten league run still intact.}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unfamiliar person; a stranger.

    • unexpected

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not expected, anticipated or foreseen.
  • * , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
  • *
    • The windmill presented unexpected difficulties.

    Synonyms

    * See

    Antonyms

    * expected

    Derived terms

    * unexpectedly * unexpectedness

    Related terms

    * unplanned * incidental * contingent * bolt from the blue * out of the blue