Unwritten

adj, verb

adj, verb ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    past participle of unwrite form-of, participle, past
Adjective
  1. 1
    Not written. not-comparable

    "The most important rule is unwritten but not unspoken. It is the rule of pronounceability. Sure, xzyqt looks grand, but how do you say it?"

  2. 2
    Oral or otherwise communicated without writing. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Implicit or understood but not formally articulated. not-comparable

    "It's an unwritten rule that you lock the gate when you leave the swimming pool."

  4. 4
    Containing no writing; blank. not-comparable

    "unwritten paper"

Adjective
  1. 1
    said or done without having been planned or written in advance wordnet
  2. 2
    using speech rather than writing wordnet
  3. 3
    based on custom rather than documentation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
spokenacknowledgedad-libadmittedarticulatedcommon law

Example

More examples

"There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from customs is the unwritten law."

Etymology

From Middle English unwriten, from Old English unwriten, unġewriten (“unwritten”), equivalent to un- + written.

Related phrases

unwritten rulede facto

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.