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, NASA has since the early 21st century used and prescribed non-gender-specific 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

The unmanned aerial vehicles are used for real estate, aerial photography, industrial inspections, agriculture and even work for insurance companies. —Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Apr. 2024

For example, Ukraine has been testing a variety of unmanned technologies—basically robots—that can be used for mining bridges, evacuating the wounded, and delivering weapons. —Nataliya Gumenyuk, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2024

The Iranian unmanned vehicles that were directed at Israeli targets have found more success in Ukraine, where the Russian military has used them to wreak havoc on civilian centers. —The Editors, National Review, 17 Apr. 2024

For the Department of Homeland Security 7,500 police-type vehicles, money for marine vessels, aircraft, and unmanned aerial systems. —Jasmine Garsd, NPR, 22 Mar. 2024

The next unmanned mission, Chang’e-6, is expected to launch later this year and bring back the first samples ever collected from the moon’s far side. —Simone McCarthy, CNN, 26 Feb. 2024

Raytheon has used game engines to simulate the deployment of new military technologies, including autonomous drone swarms and fleets of unmanned ground vehicles in dense cities. —Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched 170 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more than 120 ballistic missiles and more than 30 cruise missiles in the attack, according to Hagari. —Melissa Gaffney, ABC News, 14 Apr. 2024

Israel’s probe of the WCK attack found that operators of the unmanned aerial vehicle tracking the convoy were not made aware of its coordination plan. —Louisa Loveluck, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1544, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

unmanned

adjective

un·​manned ˌən-ˈmand 

ˈən-

: having no crew aboard

an unmanned spacecraft