unclaimed
Britishadjective
Explanation
Unclaimed things haven't been collected or demanded, like an unclaimed sweatshirt in the lost-and-found bin at school. When you claim something, you make a formal request for it or assert that you have a right to it, the way you claim your seat at the theater or claim your bag from the baggage carousel at the airport. Bags that left at the airport or seats left empty? Those are unclaimed.
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.
It didn’t, however, require any party to renounce its previous claims, nor did it permanently bar future claims on previously unclaimed territory.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
A report by the analytics company, Policy in Practice, estimated there may be about 31,000 people across Peterborough that were entitled to unclaimed benefits they have not yet claimed.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
All proceeds from the auction of unclaimed items support bus and rail operations.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026
Towing and impounding companies may auction unclaimed vehicles within a certain amount of time.
From Salon • Mar. 4, 2026
In a photograph, he observed the train smashed to shards, piled jaggedly against the sky, security guards sitting on the unclaimed belongings.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
