unemployed

adjective un·em·ployed \ ˌən-im-ˈplȯid \

|Updated on: 8 Jul 2018

Examples: unemployed in a Sentence

Definition of unemployed

: not employed:

a : not being used

b : not engaged in a gainful occupation

c : not invested

—

unemployed

noun

See unemployed defined for English-language learners

See unemployed defined for kids

Examples of unemployed in a Sentence

the plant closings left a significant portion of the town's population unemployed

Recent Examples of unemployed from the Web

Thomas, whose contract includes a $1.1 million base salary this season, an $831,250 roster bonus and a $50,000 workout bonus, talked this week with unemployed former San Francisco 49ers Pro Bowl safety Eric Reid.

— aaron wilson, Houston Chronicle, "Giants' Michael Thomas: 'Never worried, but collusion is real'," 2 July 2018
Many supporters of López Obrador have been adversely affected by the 24-year-old deal, as Mexico began importing billions of dollars’ worth of agricultural products such as corn, leaving thousands of small-scale grain farmers unemployed.

— kevin sieff, The Seattle Times, "López Obrador, winner of Mexican election, given broad mandate," 2 July 2018
In the town of Nacajuca, unemployed oilmen from the indigenous Chontal community played cards on a recent day in the shade of roadside concrete pavilions.

— robbie whelan, WSJ, "Two States of Mexico Reveal the Split Driving Sunday’s Presidential Election," 28 June 2018
There were tenants and sharecroppers who were organizing, there were unemployed individuals who were organizing.

— sarah jones, The New Republic, "Lessons From the Gilded Age," 13 June 2018
Of those citizens, 70 percent are still unemployed three years after their release, said Jeff Donofrio, the director of Detroit's workforce development office in Mayor Mike Duggan's administration.

— john gallagher, Detroit Free Press, "These Detroiters aren't looking for jobs. Why might surprise you," 8 June 2018
The game takes pains to show mass protests over the unemployment rate spiking past 35 percent, never really acknowledging that even unemployed slobs can apparently afford to buy a capable android to cater to their every whim.

— kyle orland, Ars Technica, "Detroit: Become Human review: Robotic in all of the wrong ways," 24 May 2018
Sometime before the sun fully rose on March 2, an unemployed college dropout arrived on Haverford Drive in northeast Austin and walked beneath the canopy of an oak tree.

— San Antonio Express-News, "‘This is our guy’ - inside the hunt for Austin’s serial bomber," 24 Mar. 2018
As a matter of fact, there's roughly 6.7 million available jobs in the country and there are 6.4 million people who are unemployed.

— CBS News, "LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner on the importance of interpersonal skills," 13 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'unemployed.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.