unload
Americanverb (used with object)
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unloads,
present (3rd person singular)
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unloaded,
past participle, past
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unloading
present participle
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to take the load from; remove the cargo or freight from.
to unload a truck; to unload a cart.
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to remove or discharge (a load, group of people, etc.).
to unload passengers.
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to remove the charge from (a firearm).
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to relieve of anything burdensome, oppressive, etc..
He unloaded his responsibilities.
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to get rid of (goods, shares of stock, etc.) by sale in large quantities.
verb (used without object)
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unloads,
present (3rd person singular)
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unloaded,
past participle, past
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unloading
present participle
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to unload something.
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Informal. to relieve one's stress by talking, confessing, or the like.
verb
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to remove a load or cargo from (a ship, lorry, etc)
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to discharge (cargo, freight, etc)
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(tr) to relieve of a burden or troubles
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(tr) to give vent to (anxiety, troubles, etc)
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(tr) to get rid of or dispose of (esp surplus goods)
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(tr) to remove the charge of ammunition from (a firearm)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unloadsimple
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unloadssimple
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have unloadedperfect
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has unloadedperfect
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am unloadingprogressive
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are unloadingprogressive
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is unloadingprogressive
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have been unloadingperfect progressive
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has been unloadingperfect progressive
Past
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unloadedsimple
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had unloadedperfect
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was unloadingprogressive
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were unloadingprogressive
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had been unloadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unload
Explanation
To unload is to remove cargo from a vehicle or shipping carton. Unload can also mean to discharge or get rid of something, or to get something off your chest. A clothing store might unload (remove) a hundred cartons from the delivery truck, and then unload (unpack) shirts and pants from the cartons. If a carton of clothes is imperfect, the store might send them back or unload (dispossess themselves of) them by selling them cheaply to a factory-seconds outlet. Then the store manager, depending on her mood, might unload on (give a tongue-lashing to) the manufacturer for shipping shoddy products.
Vocabulary lists containing unload
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“He allows you to give yourself that mental space to unload and get away from football for a minor second,” McDuffie said of McVay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Bezos plans to unload 15 million ‘founder shares’ he acquired back in 1994 under a prescheduled trading plan.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
She says they would have been heading for the southern coast of Myanmar, where they would unload their human cargo to smaller boats to put them back on dry land.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
However, the increased adoption of battery electric vehicles, or BEVs, favors the Chinese original equipment manufacturers while putting pressure on the sales volumes of European incumbents trying to unload cars with internal-combustion engines.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
As she helped her family unload the U-Haul, ideas tumbled around Emily’s head of how Mr. Griswold’s disappearance could be launched into a game.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Instead of slowly releasing harmful material, the cell unloads its contents almost instantly.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
She enters a spotless kitchen, unloads a bag of groceries, and unwraps a frozen pizza before sliding it in the oven.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
He hauls buckets of feed into the back of his ATV and unloads them in a pen crowded with cattle that outweigh him many times over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
The crypto selloff has deepened as Wall Street unloads risk-on assets amid concerns over the stretched valuations of artificial-intelligence stocks.
From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2025
As Mark unloads the supplies, he wonders if Boss and his partner have bothered to so much as dip themselves in the warm waters that surround them.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
When the attacks somewhat subsided a few days later, the vessel unloaded its cargo and was asked to sail eastwards via the Strait of Hormuz.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
While nearly 30 unloaded VLCCs, the largest type of tanker, are still heading toward the Middle East Gulf, more vessels could divert or delay voyages in the coming days if the fighting persists, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Strategy last sold bitcoin in December 2022, when it unloaded about 704 bitcoin for $11.8 million, at an average price of $16,776 per bitcoin.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
Critics also unloaded to NBC News and other outlets.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Supplies of fresh water and hot food are unloaded from a helicopter at a mountaintop camp thirty miles northwest of Qui Nhon, 1966.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
"With this unauthorised unloading of equipment, the company has really not improved its chances with the Greenland authorities," said Anne Merrild, a professor at Aalborg University and Arctic specialist.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
The native Ohioan said she had so far only seen "a lot of forklifts unloading trucks. If I am online and I see...a commotion and a fanfare, I will probably come back."
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
CBS also posted images on social media of crews unloading covered equipment labeled “Garden Party,” and other photos show a “40-inch mirror ball.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Crews have been seen in recent days unloading stage equipment, lights and other gear.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
When unloading oxygen, the same saddle-clasp mechanism loosens.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
