unknown quantity

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)A person or thing whosenatureorvalueis amystery.Antonyms:known quantity,household name1895October,Stephen Crane, chapter I, inThe Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.:D[aniel] Appleton and Company,→OCLC,page14:Whatever he had learned of himself was here of no avail. He was anunknown quantity.1907,The Bookman, volume25,page166:. . . theEvening Postof this city to refer to him recently as "the young Belgian painter," and to the general public he is anunknown quantity.1963June, “Beyond the Channel: France: High-power diesels”, inModern Railways, page417:The big French diesel is something of anunknown quantity, whereas many French-built electric locomotives developing 3,000 h.p. and more have been well proved in service.1971,Lyndon Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, inThe Vantage Point‎[1],Holt, Reinhart & Winston,→ISBN,→LCCN,→OCLC,page18:In spite of more than three decades of public service, I knew I was anunknown quantityto many of my countrymen and to much of the world when I assumed office.1982September 22, Henry Tanner, “Gemayel Brothers Assessed in Syria”, inNew York Times, retrieved9 January 2016:Amin Gemayel, it is felt here, is anunknown quantityand it is impossible to predict how he will act.2015December 6, “Congratulations on 10 years, David Cameron - but don't rest on your laurels”, inTelegraph, UK, retrieved9 January 2016:[H]e was still anunknown quantity– a young, untested figure.; Used other than figuratively or idiomatically:seeunknown,‎quantity.2012January 1, Richard N. Aufmann, Joanne Lockwood,Beginning Algebra‎[2], Cengage Learning,→ISBN, page77:Many of the applications of mathematics require that you identify anunknown quantity, assign a variable to that quantity, and then attempt to express anotherunknown quantityin terms of that variable.2016, Steve Pace,The Projects of Skunk Works: 75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs‎[3], Voyageur Press,→ISBN, page145:So promising was the Skunk Works' stealth cruise missile offering, the USAF ordered anunknown quantityof these missiles under a highly classified program dubbed Senior Prom.

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