unemployable
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Usage
What does unemployable mean? Unemployable most commonly means unsuitable for employment or unable to keep a job. The word employable generally means available and able to be hired for a job, especially for long-term employment, but usually also implies that a person is a desirable candidate for a job. Unemployable is the opposite of this. When a person is described as unemployable, it’s usually a very negative and often insulting statement about how they’re not fit to hold a job in any way. However, unemployable can also be used in a neutral way that means they’re not able to be hired for some reason, such as legal status or a lack of positions. Example: Most employers consider convicted felons unemployable, but we give people a second chance.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unemployable
First recorded in 1885–90; un- 1 + employable
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.
One can see the attraction for writers: the insular setting, the acceptance of eccentricity, the entrenchment of the otherwise unemployable, and the ease by which one can lampoon social trends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
Speaking to the Times, Ms Cabot said she is looking for another job but has been told she is "unemployable".
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
Defendants find themselves both unemployed and unemployable, blacklisted, bankrupt and broken.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2025
She also wrote, directed and starred in the defiantly weird comedy “Mandy,” which follows an unemployable woman as she skips from one odd job to the next.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2025
I could be a lawyer, or a teacher, or my worst fear, unemployable.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
