unskilled
Americanadjective
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of or relating to workers who lack technical training or skill.
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not demanding special training or skill.
unskilled occupations.
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exhibiting a marked lack of skill or competence.
an unskilled painting; an unskilled writer.
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not skilled or expert.
He was unskilled in the art of rhetoric.
adjective
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not having or requiring any special skill or training
unskilled workers
an unskilled job
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having or displaying no skill; inexpert
he is quite unskilled at dancing
Etymology
Origin of unskilled
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.
Wages of unskilled workers would drop and unemployment would rise, he told them.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
CareScout’s estimate for paid home care is based on 44 hours a week of unskilled care.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026
“If the population growth is negative or has depressed then there’s a labor force issue and many employers of unskilled workers are feeling the pinch.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 27, 2026
The Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, became the first mass labor organization, welcoming all “producers”: skilled and unskilled, Black and white, men and women.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
I was a true hustler—uneducated, unskilled at anything honorable, and I considered myself nervy and cunning enough to live by my wits, exploiting any prey that presented itself.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
