1
as in inexperienced
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
an unskilled handling of the facial features in the portrait explains why it is attributed to "school of Velázquez" and not to the master himself
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in incompetent
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
hired unskilled workers because they would work for lower wages
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unskilled
Women worked as domestics; men served as unskilled laborers, canal diggers and later as mill workers across the river.
—
Paula Kane,
The Conversation,
13 Mar. 2026
Meanwhile, the women faced with that pool of socially unskilled men have largely been overlooked.
—
Faith Hill,
The Atlantic,
17 Jan. 2026
Complex negotiations in large organizations often fail—not because the negotiators are inexperienced or unskilled but because they’re constrained by two structural challenges, agency and alignment, and by the ways organizations manage those challenges.
—
Danny Ertel,
Harvard Business Review,
8 Dec. 2025
In contrast to many European countries, for instance, whose modern histories of immigration go back to the mid-twentieth century, Japan has not accepted generations of unskilled workers from poor, developing countries or adopted formal guest-worker programs.
—
Gracia Liu-Farrer,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unskilled
Paula Kane,
The Conversation,
13 Mar. 2026
Meanwhile, the women faced with that pool of socially unskilled men have largely been overlooked.
—
Faith Hill,
The Atlantic,
17 Jan. 2026
Complex negotiations in large organizations often fail—not because the negotiators are inexperienced or unskilled but because they’re constrained by two structural challenges, agency and alignment, and by the ways organizations manage those challenges.
—
Danny Ertel,
Harvard Business Review,
8 Dec. 2025
In contrast to many European countries, for instance, whose modern histories of immigration go back to the mid-twentieth century, Japan has not accepted generations of unskilled workers from poor, developing countries or adopted formal guest-worker programs.
—
Gracia Liu-Farrer,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unskilled
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unskilled
Adjective
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At $18 or even $15 per hour, many companies don’t see value in hiring inexperienced teens who require extensive training to interact with customers, let alone achieve some measure of productivity.
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Lagway’s depature after 19 starts leaves the Gators to choose between two talented, yet inexperienced options with just one combined start — by Philo against Gardner-Webb in 2025.
Adjective
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Clinical psychologists concluded after exams in the six years since his arrest that McGuire was incompetent to stand trial.
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She was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to the Missouri Department of Mental Health, according to a statement provided by Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Jazzlyn Johnson.
Adjective
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The events give youth amateur boxers from the city's 22 boxing gyms a chance to show their skills in a competitive atmosphere.
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And injecting college baseball with top high school talent likely would lead to greater attention for the amateur draft and the game overall.
Adjective
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There are worse strategies, but perhaps the unfit 18-year-old can’t do it all himself.
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The plan to buy large warehouses unfit for human habitation and spend millions more to convert them to prisons sparked nationwide backlash and pointed resistance in Social Circle and Oakwood.
Adjective
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Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.
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The venerable American clan at the center of the narrator’s reminiscences are wholly unfitted to the modern world and no longer endowed with the fortune that one of them brought home long ago on clipper ships.
Adjective
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The major platforms, Ringelstein argued, are simply incapable of doing what Zigazoo does — not unwilling, but structurally unable.
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Facing a right-handed pitcher on a team completely incapable of holding runners, Cox just stood there.
Cite this Entry
“Unskilled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskilled. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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