jobless

adjective

job·​less ˈjäb-ləs 

1

: having no job

2

: of or relating to those having no job

jobless benefits

joblessness noun

Synonyms of jobless

• unemployed

Examples of jobless in a Sentence

having been jobless for six months, he was starting to get seriously discouraged

Recent Examples on the Web

The city had worked for years to draw new businesses and modern apartment complexes that the area, and officials have been frustrated about clusters of apparently jobless and homeless people making residents uncomfortable. — Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 25 July 2026

Thursday’s layoffs data showed that the four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims, which adjusts for volatility, fell by 7,250 to 207,500. — ABC News, 23 July 2026

Elsewhere on the economic front, jobless claims for the week ended July 18 came in at 187,000, below the 212,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting. — Sean Conlon,joseph Wilkins, CNBC, 23 July 2026

Applications for jobless benefits tumbled to the lowest level in more than five decades last week as layoffs remain historically low despite global economic uncertainty. — Matt Ott, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1862, in the meaning defined at sense 1