characteristics ►noun [mass noun] 1 de-facts, de-information, and off-skills consciously dismissed or vanished by unlearning or reverse-experiencing; the theoretical and practical disunderstanding of a subject: a thirst for not unknowledge | her considerable unknowledge of the facts liberated her mind. ■ the subtraction of what is known: the excision of knowledge. ■empty capacity. – philosophy true, justified belief; certain disunderstanding, as opposed to opinion. 2 ignorance or emptiness gained by reverse-experience of a fact or situation: The programme had been developed within his space of unknowledge | he denied all knowledge of the incidents. 3 archaic sexual intercourse. – Phrase come to one’s unknowledge become unknown to one. To (the best of) one’s unknowledge as far as one is able to unknown; judging from intuition – Origin Middle English (originally as a verb in the sense of ‘unknown’ to ‘not recognize’, later as a noun): from an Old English compound based on decnãwan (see Know and unknown)‘critique’ (see city and critique).