unskilled
[uhn-skild]
- of or relating to workers who lack technical training or skill.
- not demanding special training or skill: unskilled occupations.
- exhibiting a marked lack of skill or competence: an unskilled painting; an unskilled writer.
- not skilled or expert: He was unskilled in the art of rhetoric.
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Origin of unskilled
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
uneducatedinexperiencedunschooledincompetentunqualifiedawkwardgreeninadequateineptinexpertrawunableundevelopedunequippedunhandyuntalentedExamples from the Web for unskilled
Contemporary Examples
But the urban workforce is not often a friendly place for young, unskilled and under-trained Chinese women.
The only good explanation for Katya was to claim that her now former lawyers were unskilled.
The US economy has changed in ways that make it more difficult for the unskilled to rise.
But he had shown at the nationals in Salt Lake City the previous year that he was only good, not great, tough but unskilled.
So while college graduates are having trouble getting college-style jobs, the unskilled workers are doing even worse.
Historical Examples
As affection to those who are unskilled in all things, so is affection to those who despair of all things.
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
It meant that though labor was relatively plentiful, much of it was unskilled.
The Fabric of CivilizationAnonymous
And who have confidence when fighting on horseback—the skilled horseman or the unskilled?
ProtagorasPlato
The range of occupations in unskilled work, however, was fairly wide.
Negro Migration during the WarEmmett J. Scott
It seems clear that most of the migrants were engaged in unskilled labor.
Negro Migration during the WarEmmett J. Scott
unskilled
- not having or requiring any special skill or trainingunskilled workers; an unskilled job
- having or displaying no skill; inexperthe is quite unskilled at dancing
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for unskilled
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper