unemployed

[uhn-em-ploid]

adjective

1. not employed; without a job; out of work.

   an unemployed secretary.

   Synonyms: jobless, at liberty, idle, unoccupied

2. not currently in use.

   unemployed productive capacity.

3. not productively used.

   unemployed capital.

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. people who do not have jobs.

   programs to help the unemployed.

unemployed

/ ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd /

adjective

1. 1. without remunerative employment; out of work

   2. ( as collective noun; preceded by the )

      the unemployed

2. not being used; idle

Word History and Origins

Origin of unemployed¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; un- ¹ + employ + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Furloughed federal workers may show up as unemployed in the part of the jobs report used to calculate the unemployment rate, Sweet said.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Before us, there is a battalion of unemployed chairs.

Read more on BBC

Diamol Sène, who dries salted fish in the sun, says some of the women who previously worked alongside her at a fish processing site are now unemployed.

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Mr Harborne had been in shared accommodation in Kingstanding, Birmingham, but when he became unemployed, he fell behind with his rent payments and lived on the streets before his parents in Worcester took him in.

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He denied having any role in the violence and said that growing frustration among young people is what had driven them onto the streets, with many of them being unemployed for years.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• idle 
• inactive 
• jobless 
• underemployed 

When To Use

What does unemployed mean?

Unemployed means not having a paid job—not being employed.A person who’s described as unemployed is typically out of work and looking for a job. A person who’s retired, for example, wouldn’t be said to be unemployed.Unemployed is sometimes used to refer to unemployed people collectively, as in These programs are intended to help the unemployed. The state of being unemployed is unemployment. The opposite of this is employment.The verb employ also means to use, and unemployed can be used to mean unused, as in We shouldn’t let these resources go unemployed. Example: I was unemployed for a long time before I was recruited in Greenland by someone who finally saw my strengths.