Meaning & use
unfelt
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparableliterary
Not noticed through the senses or not experienced as an emotion.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after a linking verb: unfelt pain, the blow was unfelt.
Patterns
- go unfelt
- unfelt by someone
The tremor went unfelt in the distant towns.
His grief was strangely unfelt at first.
Her kindness was not unfelt by those she helped.
adjectivenot comparableliterary
Not sincerely felt; said or done without real emotion.
Grammar: Describes words or gestures that lack real feeling.
The speech was full of unfelt praise.
He offered an unfelt apology to end the argument.
Her unfelt smile never reached her eyes.
Common combinations
- go unfelt
- The pain went unfelt during the race.
- unfelt pain
- The wound caused unfelt pain until the medicine wore off.
- unfelt emotions
- She spoke of unfelt emotions in the play.
- unfelt presence
- His unfelt presence haunted the house.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unnoticed
- Unnoticed means not observed, while unfelt is about sensation or emotion.
- insincere
- Insincere describes false words or people, while unfelt describes the missing emotion itself.
- numb
- Numb describes a body part or person that lacks feeling, while unfelt describes the thing not sensed.
- unexpressed
- Unexpressed means felt but not shown, the reverse of unfelt.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: unfelt or felt?
unfelt vs felt
Felt can also be a soft cloth made of pressed wool, which is unrelated to unfelt.
Practice
The soldier's wound was strangely ___ in the heat of the battle.
Choose one answer.
Unfelt means not sensed, which fits a wound ignored during battle. The other options are not real words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unfelt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.