Unchanged

Unchanged is an adjective that describes something that has not been altered or modified; it remains the same as before. It can refer to states, conditions, values, or items that persist without change over a period of time. The word is formed from the prefix un- meaning not, combined with changed.

In finance and reporting, unchanged denotes no net change from a reference value, such as a previous close or prior measurement. For example, a stock index described as finishing unchanged indicates it ended at the same level as the previous session.

In editing, publishing, and document management, unchanged text or an unchanged file means the content has not been revised or altered during a given process or comparison.

In computing and software development, unchanged can describe data or files that match a baseline or last commit. Version control systems may indicate a file is unchanged if there are no diffs compared with the reference version.

In science and mathematics, unchanged often relates to invariance or constancy under certain conditions, highlighting properties that do not vary under specified transformations or operations.

Usage notes: unchanged is common in everyday language, and the phrase “remained unchanged” is frequently used to emphasize persistence. It is often contrasted with changed, altered, modified, or variable to indicate a departure from an initial state.

See also: invariance, constancy, immutability, persistence.