Meaning & use
unquenched
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableliterary
Describing a thirst or need that has not been satisfied or relieved.
Grammar: Works before a noun or after a verb: unquenched thirst, or his thirst remained unquenched.
Patterns
- remain unquenched
After the long hike his thirst was still unquenched.
Her unquenched curiosity pushed her to read every book on the subject.
The village's unquenched need for clean water led them to dig a new well.
adjectivecomparableliterary
Describing a fire or flame that has not been put out.
Grammar: Applies to fires and sometimes feelings: an unquenched blaze.
Patterns
- leave something unquenched
The unquenched embers glowed through the night.
An unquenched fire in the hills threatened the next valley.
Common combinations
- unquenched thirst
- His unquenched thirst drove him toward the river.
- unquenched desire
- She felt an unquenched desire to travel.
- unquenched curiosity
- Unquenched curiosity kept him up all night reading.
- remain unquenched
- Their hunger for success remained unquenched.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unsatisfied
- Unsatisfied is neutral and common, while unquenched sounds more poetic and tied to thirst or fire.
- unslaked
- Unslaked is even more literary and is mainly used with thirst and lime.
- insatiable
- Insatiable means impossible to satisfy at all, whereas unquenched only says it has not been satisfied yet.
Opposites
Word family
- quench verb
- to satisfy thirst, or put out a fire
- quencher noun
- something that satisfies thirst
- unquenchable adjective
- impossible to satisfy
- quenching adjective
- relieving thirst
Commonly confused: unquenched or unquenchable?
unquenched vs unquenchable
Unquenchable means that the thirst or desire cannot be satisfied, while unquenched only says it has not been satisfied so far.
Practice
After walking all day in the desert without water, the hikers' thirst was still ____.
Choose one answer.
Unquenched means a thirst that has not been relieved. Unfinished refers to tasks, not thirst.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unquenched”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.