unregulated
Britishadjective
Explanation
Whether it’s an economy, the fishing industry, or your cash flow, something that’s unregulated knows no bounds — there are no rules or restrictions in place. When you break the word unregulated down, it’s easy to figure out what it means. The prefix un- reverses an action, so here it means “not.” Then you have regulated, which describes something that has rules or people who check that things are working properly. So if something is unregulated, there are no rules or people making sure everything is right, like an unregulated restaurant that the board of health doesn't know about.
Vocabulary lists containing unregulated
100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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Mexikid
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Articles on Overfishing
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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.
Users, including Fortune 500 companies, are turning to unregulated, possibly purloined “open weight” Chinese AI models to save money and avoid exposing their data to the big domestic labs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Three years ago, the FDA placed restrictions on 14 peptides over safety risks, meaning they now fall somewhere between the unregulated world of supplements and the highly structured process of testing new drugs.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
We have athletes going into the portal every year with agents who are unregulated, getting 10% of the deals and promising students large amounts of money through NIL.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Selling sperm for profit is illegal in the UK but the number of men offering to provide their services via unregulated online platforms is increasing.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
However, one consequence of its unregulated nature is that the Delaware regularly floods.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
