unemployed
Americanadjective
-
not employed; without a job; out of work.
an unemployed secretary.
- Synonyms:
- jobless, at liberty, idle, unoccupied
-
not currently in use.
unemployed productive capacity.
-
not productively used.
unemployed capital.
noun
adjective
-
-
without remunerative employment; out of work
-
( as collective noun; preceded by the )
the unemployed
-
-
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.
Continuing claims, which scale with the total size of the unemployed population, totaled 1.71 million in the week through Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
When Alice was unemployed Savage covered her entrance cost every single time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Last month, there were 245,000 people between the ages of 20 and 24 with no prior work experience who were unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
The ONS estimates that 393,000 16- to 24-year-olds were unemployed and looking for work.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
When Humphrey was asked what was to become of the unemployed miners, he said they would be retrained, which got a big round of applause from his audience.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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