Unrecognized

Unrecognized is the past participle and adjective formed from recognize with the prefix un-. It denotes something not identified, acknowledged, or accepted as valid by a person, group, system, or authority. It can describe a person whose identity is unknown, an object not yet identified, or a claim that has not been conceded. It can also describe a political entity lacking formal diplomatic recognition.

In everyday language, unrecognized appears in contexts like an unrecognized caller, an unrecognized device on a network, or an unrecognized error in a log. In international relations, an unrecognized state is a polity not broadly recognized by other states or by international organizations.

In computing, unrecognized is common in error messages and parsing, such as an unrecognized command, an unrecognized token, or an unrecognized file format, signaling that input cannot be mapped to a known category.

Etymology and related terms: unrecognized is formed from recognize plus the negating prefix un-. Related terms include recognition, recognized, unrecognizable, unidentified, and unknown.