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unknown quantity. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Pronunciation
Noun
unknown quantity (plural unknown quantities)
- (idiomatic) A person or thing whose nature or value is a mystery.
- Antonyms: known quantity, household name
1907, The Bookman, volume 25, page 166:. . . the Evening Post of this city to refer to him recently as "the young Belgian painter," and to the general public he is an unknown quantity.
1963 June, “Beyond the Channel: France: High-power diesels”, in Modern Railways, page 417:The big French diesel is something of an unknown quantity, whereas many French-built electric locomotives developing 3,000 h.p. and more have been well proved in service.
1971, Lyndon Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18:In spite of more than three decades of public service, I knew I was an unknown quantity to many of my countrymen and to much of the world when I assumed office.
1982 September 22, Henry Tanner, “Gemayel Brothers Assessed in Syria”, in New York Times, retrieved 9 January 2016:Amin Gemayel, it is felt here, is an unknown quantity and it is impossible to predict how he will act.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see unknown, quantity.
2012 January 1, Richard N. Aufmann, Joanne Lockwood, Beginning Algebra, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 77:Many of the applications of mathematics require that you identify an unknown quantity, assign a variable to that quantity, and then attempt to express another unknown quantity in terms of that variable.
2016, Steve Pace, The Projects of Skunk Works: 75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs, Voyageur Press, →ISBN, page 145:So promising was the Skunk Works' stealth cruise missile offering, the USAF ordered an unknown quantity of these missiles under a highly classified program dubbed Senior Prom.
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