underemployed

adjective

un·​der·​em·​ployed ˌən-dər-im-ˈplȯid 

: having less than full-time, regular, or adequate employment

Examples of underemployed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Other novelists have turned to acidic, class-conscious portraits of the underemployed—see Andrew Martin and Halle Butler. — Ryan Chapman, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026

Things happen but both my SILs have perfectly capable male spouses who insist on being very underemployed. — Sean Joseph Outkick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026

There have been questions about students who graduate and are underemployed. — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2026

About 85% of adults with autism are unemployed and nearly 8% are underemployed, having skills that are higher than their job requires, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. — Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 5 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for underemployed

• corticosteroid
• adenoid
• alkaloid
• amoeboid
• amyloid
• aneroid
• arachnoid
• asteroid
• benzenoid
• carcinoid
• celluloid
• coronoid