manned

1 of 2

adjective

ˈmand 

see usage paragraph below

: carrying, staffed, or performed by one or more people

a manned security booth

manned spaceflight

a manned mission

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.

manned

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of man entry 2

Examples of manned in a Sentence

Adjective

a manned mission to the moon

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

With the Artemis program laying the groundwork for mankind's return to the moon, something like this rover could, manned or unmanned, end up driving across its surface. — Chris McMullen, Space.com, 22 Sep. 2026

In January 2025, Reagan National Airport was the site of the deadliest aircraft accident in the United States in more than two decades when a manned US Army Blackhawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet. — Aaron Cooper, CNN Money, 18 Sep. 2026

That gets harder as networks overlap, with manned aircraft also entering the airspace. — Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 18 Sep. 2026

Picture show Nelly Buchet's new picture book, The Weather Keeper, was inspired by a woman who runs one of Iceland's 71 manned weather stations. — Brittney Melton, NPR, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1583, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for manned

• armband
• backhand
• bandstand
• baseband
• broadband
• command
• cropland
• demand
• disband
• dreamland
• expand
• farmhand

Kids Definition

manned

adjective

ˈmand 

: carrying or performed by a person

manned spaceflight