What does unrecovered mean?
Unrecovered is an adjective meaning not yet recovered, regained, retrieved, or reclaimed. Its most familiar uses are financial and legal: unrecovered costs are expenses that have not been paid back or offset, while unrecovered debt or losses remain outstanding. It can also describe someone who has not regained health after an illness or injury, especially in the phrase “remains unrecovered.” The word normally carries a temporary or incomplete implication rather than suggesting that recovery is impossible; a matter may later become recovered, and a person may eventually recover. In formal and professional writing, unrecovered is often placed after a noun or used with remain, leave, or still. It offers a precise alternative to broader wording such as “not paid back” or “not yet back to normal,” and its distinctive rhythm makes it useful for emphasizing an outstanding loss or incomplete recovery.
adjectiveNot recovered; not yet regained, retrieved, reclaimed, or restored to a previous condition.
- Not yet recovered, reclaimed, retrieved, or compensated.
- Having not regained health or a previous condition.
"The insurer spent months pursuing unrecovered losses."
"The report identified thousands of dollars in unrecovered costs."
"A year later, he remained unrecovered from the accident."
Unrecovered sounds personal, but it can describe a balance sheet: costs and debts that have yet to be recouped.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unrecovered come from?
The adjective was formed in English by attaching the productive negative prefix un- to recover. Recover comes through Old French recoverer from Latin recuperare, built from re- and caperere, meaning “to take” or “capture.” Related English forms include recover, recoverable, and recovery, all reflecting the same Latin base.
How unrecovered is actually used
Chiefly neutral to formal. In financial and legal contexts, it means unpaid, uncompensated, or not yet reclaimed; in health contexts, it is commonly used predicatively with remain. It normally suggests that recovery remains possible rather than being permanently impossible.
Easily confused with unrecovered
Uncovered normally means exposed or not covered, whereas unrecovered means not regained, reclaimed, or restored.