Used in a Sentence

unintended

Definition, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for unintended.

Editorial note

Regulators who don't take into account possible unintended consequences of their regulations should be stripped of regulatory authority.

Examples16
Definitions1
Parts of speech1

Quick take

Not intended; unplanned

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of unintended gathered in one view.

adjective

Not intended; unplanned

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for unintended.

Example sentences

1

Regulators who don't take into account possible unintended consequences of their regulations should be stripped of regulatory authority.

2

Passing genes from one thing into another can very easily have unintended consequences as they do in nature.

3

Signed arithmetic avoids unintended consequences for comparisons and arithmetic, and enables better loop optimizations by the compiler.

4

There are deliberate loopholes - a company can register for VAT, for example - and there are unintended loopholes.

5

Those consequences will be unintended, but there's no way to leave that equation out of balance.

6

Perhaps removing some of the ambiguity also reduces the chances of unintended political or market fallout.

7

The threat is more like that humans will design AI with the goal of making X objects or optimizing Y system, which leads to the unintended consequence of killing people.

8

All the reason that you should let prices adjust accordingly with minimal intervention because most interventions will have unintended consequences.

9

An unintended side-effect of rockets could be that it reduces the load on reddit's server.

10

It seems whenever taxes are used to direct human behavior there are always unintended consequences.

11

It would be enormously distortive and would have so many loopholes that the unintended side effects would be of epic proportions.

12

One thing we can be certain of, probably, is that whatever changes we implement will have unintended consequences.

Quote examples

1

The banning of DDT lead to millions of deaths in tropical areas (an "unintended consequence").

2

This is because Microsoft will release "updates" to that package, with the totally unintended side effect of unhiding and reinstalling the update.

3

The "law of unintended consequences" is powerful.

4

I find it interesting that when the government distorts a market via pricing controls, taxes, or other means, the law of unintended consequences almost inevitably kicks in and it's result is either "bad luck" or calls to "fill in the loopholes!" Distort the market and people are rational-enough agents and will change their behavior, just not necessarily entirely in the way you hope/want.

Frequently asked questions

Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.

How do you use unintended in a sentence?

Regulators who don't take into account possible unintended consequences of their regulations should be stripped of regulatory authority.

What does unintended mean?

Not intended; unplanned

What part of speech is unintended?

unintended is commonly used as adjective.