unconnected

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + connected.^[2][3][4][5] Connect is from Latin conectō (“to join together”), from com- (“together”) and nectō (“to bind, tie”), from Proto-Indo-European *ned- (“to bind, tie”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not connected or associated with something: 1736, in Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion.^[2][3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1730–40.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Within a decade it was used of reasoning or writing that lacked connection, in Hume (1745).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as not coherent, not joined by proper transitions, loose or vague, quoting Watts on "short, unconnected discourses".^[6] From 1777 it could mean not joined in order or sequence, isolated.^[2] From 1801, in Maria Edgeworth, it also meant having no family ties or personal connections;^[2][3] the sense "not physically joined with something" follows in 1829.^[2]

Timeline

• 1736 – not connected or associated with something.^[2][3]
• 1745 – lacking connection; incoherent.^[2]
• 1777 – not joined together in order or sequence; isolated.^[2]
• 1801 – having no family ties or personal connections.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1802.^[3]
• 1829 – not physically joined with something.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not joined, linked or associated; separate or unrelated: The police decided the two burglaries were unconnected.^[7][8][2]
2. Not physically attached to something.^[2][4]
3. Lacking coherence; disjointed: unconnected thoughts.^[7][8][2]
4. Having no family or other personal ties.^[8][2][3]

Word family

• unconnectedly
• unconnectedness

Related words

• connect
• connection
• disconnected

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster