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.
Examples of manned in a Sentence
a manned mission to the moon
Recent Examples on the Web
The integration of manned and unmanned elements reportedly expanded the combat radius four times compared to a standard infantry squad.
—
Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
Some defense analysts argue that the Pentagon simply needs to cancel many of its most expensive programs and stop buying new manned fighter jets and aircraft carriers.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 3 Nov. 2025
This segment develops and produces manned and unmanned military aircraft, as well as weapons systems.
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2025
The presence of such manned vehicles on the streets outside the Louvre is not unusual, museum security officers told NBC News, speaking prior to the arrests.
—Raf Sanchez, NBC news, 26 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for manned
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Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
Some defense analysts argue that the Pentagon simply needs to cancel many of its most expensive programs and stop buying new manned fighter jets and aircraft carriers.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 3 Nov. 2025
This segment develops and produces manned and unmanned military aircraft, as well as weapons systems.
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2025
The presence of such manned vehicles on the streets outside the Louvre is not unusual, museum security officers told NBC News, speaking prior to the arrests.
—Raf Sanchez, NBC news, 26 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for manned
Cite this Entry
“Manned.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manned. Accessed 24 Nov. 2025.
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manned
adjective
: carrying or performed by a person
manned spaceflight
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