UNKNOWINGLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does unknowingly mean? 

• UNKNOWINGLY (adverb)
  The adverb UNKNOWINGLY has 1 sense:

1. without knowledge or intention

  Familiarity information: UNKNOWINGLY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNKNOWINGLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without knowledge or intention

Synonyms:

inadvertently; unknowingly; unwittingly

Context example:

he unwittingly deleted the references

Antonym:

knowingly (with full knowledge and deliberation)

 Context examples 

If I have wounded your sister's feelings, it was unknowingly done and though the motives which governed me may to you very naturally appear insufficient, I have not yet learnt to condemn them.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She caught every syllable with panting eagerness; her hand, unknowingly to herself, closely pressed her sister's, and tears covered her cheeks.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Then for three days, they unknowingly received either active or sham (fake) transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS.

(Brain stimulation limits calories consumed in adults with obesity, NIH)

Hour after hour passed away, and the wearied Catherine had heard three proclaimed by all the clocks in the house before the tempest subsided or she unknowingly fell fast asleep.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A letter from his friend, Captain Harville, having found him out at last, had brought intelligence of Captain Harville's being settled with his family at Lyme for the winter; of their being therefore, quite unknowingly, within twenty miles of each other.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And he calmly held letter and envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed. Then he went on:—"The letter to Hawkins—that I shall, of course, send on, since it is yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend, that unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it again?"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)