unmanned

adjective

un·​manned ˌən-ˈmand 

1

see usage paragraph below : not carrying, staffed, or performed by people : not manned

an unmanned railroad crossing

unmanned spaceflight

2

of a hawk : not trained

Usage of Manned and Unmanned

While manned and unmanned are still commonly used in news sources to describe spaceflights with and without human crews, respectively, NASA has since the early 21st century used and prescribed gender-neutral terms, preferring such descriptors as human, piloted, and crewed for the former, and unpiloted and uncrewed for the latter.

Examples of unmanned in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As of Tuesday, the FBI Miami counter-unmanned aircraft systems mission had seized 57 unauthorized drones. — Larry Seward, CBS News, 26 June 2026

The vessel can carry either two six-ton helicopters or a single 11-ton aircraft, and can also carry two large unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). — Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering, 25 June 2026

Recent budgets place major emphasis on reconnaissance drones, unmanned maritime systems, drone-defense technologies, and autonomous systems for operations around the East China Sea and Taiwan region. — Frank Lavin, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

Air defense systems, unmanned drones, and autonomous ground and naval vehicles are among the fastest growing categories. — Chris Oberoi, Fortune, 24 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1544, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for unmanned

• ampersand
• beforehand
• behindhand
• bottomland
• contraband
• countermand
• dixieland
• fairyland
• fatherland
• firebrand
• hinterland
• motherland

Kids Definition

unmanned

adjective

un·​manned ˌən-ˈmand 

ˈən-

: having no crew aboard

an unmanned spacecraft