unemployed
Americanadjective
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not employed; without a job; out of work.
an unemployed secretary.
- Synonyms:
- jobless, at liberty, idle, unoccupied
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not currently in use.
unemployed productive capacity.
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not productively used.
unemployed capital.
noun
adjective
-
-
without remunerative employment; out of work
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( as collective noun; preceded by the )
the unemployed
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not being used; idle
Usage
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.
Etymology
Origin of unemployed
Explanation
If you're ready to work but can't find a job, you're unemployed. It can be a struggle for someone who's unemployed to pay their bills. People who lose their jobs are unemployed, at least until they find another one. Most governments have programs to support unemployed people as they search for work. To be employed means to have a paying job, but before the 17th century this word simply meant "be busy devoting yourself to something," and unemployed was used for people who weren't occupied with activities, but were enjoying some leisure time.
Vocabulary lists containing unemployed
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.
She’s 25 and unemployed, and it’s unclear at first how she acquired the funds to splurge on an on-site cottage with a pool, 90-minute massages, and various forced-fun adventures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
More than 7.5 million open jobs are available across the country, and the unemployment rate is a remarkably low 4.2% — but Talon Abernathy is one of legions of unemployed Americans struggling to find work.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
Continuing claims, which scale with the total size of the unemployed population, was 1.8 million in the week through May 30, versus a revised 1.77 million a week earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
I expect there will be more job creation than disruption, but groups have been left behind in the past and I’d want a working group to create programs for those under- or unemployed.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Soon the number of patients being treated by Socios en Salud jumped to about fifty—students, housewives, street vendors, health workers, unemployed youth.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
