unfollow

IPA/ˌʌnˈfɒləʊ/
IPA/ˌʌnˈfɑːləʊ/

unfollow — verb

  • unfollowpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • unfollowshe / she / it
  • unfollowedpast simple
  • unfollowing-ing form

1. to take a person, brand, or group off the list of accounts you follow inside a s

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to take a person, brand, or group off the list of accounts you follow inside a social-media website, so that their posts stop showing up in your feed.

Example

Sivan decided to unfollow the fitness account because too many ads appeared in her feed.

unfollow + account (object is a brand / page)

Jabari felt hurt when he noticed that Quinn had unfollowed him on Instagram.

Common collocations
  • unfollow an account
  • unfollow a page
  • unfollow someone
  • unfollow a user
  • decide to unfollow
Synonyms
  • mute

    temporarily hides posts without unfollowing; less final.

  • block

    stronger action that also prevents the person from seeing your content.

Antonyms
  • follow

    the opposite action — start tracking someone's posts.

Grammar Patterns

unfollow + noun phrase (person / account / page)

Usage Note

Object is always a person, group, or page on a social media platform. The past form is unfollowed. Most common on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Common Mistakes

I unfollow the person yesterday.
I unfollowed the person yesterday.
unfollow is a regular verb; the past tense adds -ed.
I unfollowed from his account.
I unfollowed his account.
unfollow is transitive and does not need a preposition.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Unfollow, mute, block, and unfriend all describe ways to limit contact on social media, but they differ in strength and effect. Mute is the gentlest option: you stop seeing someone's posts temporarily, but they remain a follower and do not know you muted them. Unfollow removes you from their audience — they can still see your content unless their account is private, but your action is not directly announced. Block is the strongest: it severs all connection, hides your profile from them, and prevents future interaction. Unfriend is platform-specific (Facebook) and ends a mutual friend connection rather than a one-way follow. For example, you might mute a friend who is posting too much about a sports event you dislike, unfollow a brand whose ads annoy you, block a user who sends harassing messages, and unfriend a former colleague you no longer wish to stay in touch with.

unfollow ↗mute ↗block ↗unfriend ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • someone
  • an account
  • a page
  • a user
  • a brand

Etymology

Germanic (Old English)English

Formed by adding the prefix un- (meaning 'to reverse an action') to the verb follow. The word gained widespread use in the late 2000s and early 2010s as Twitter and other social media platforms introduced the follow/unfollow model for subscribing to other users' updates.

First known use

2007

2007, in the meaning defined above