1
see usage paragraph below
: not carrying, staffed, or performed by people : not manned
an unmanned railroad crossing
unmanned spaceflight
2
of a hawk
: not trained
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 unmanned in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The proliferation of unmanned systems in the modern battlespace are forcing militaries to rethink defense economics.
—
Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 8 May 2026
To that end, Aurora last year signed an agreement with the military and the FBI to prevent drone operators from flying unmanned aircraft systems over the base.
—John Aguilar, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
Several technology vendors involved in the exercise have deployed unmanned aerial systems to help with surveillance of the search area, the official said.
—ABC News, 6 May 2026
Russia’s ability to produce the drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), en masse meant Moscow could cut Ukrainian supply lines with drone attacks well behind the front lines.
—Charbel Mallo, CNN Money, 3 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for unmanned
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Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 8 May 2026
To that end, Aurora last year signed an agreement with the military and the FBI to prevent drone operators from flying unmanned aircraft systems over the base.
—John Aguilar, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
Several technology vendors involved in the exercise have deployed unmanned aerial systems to help with surveillance of the search area, the official said.
—ABC News, 6 May 2026
Russia’s ability to produce the drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), en masse meant Moscow could cut Ukrainian supply lines with drone attacks well behind the front lines.
—Charbel Mallo, CNN Money, 3 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for unmanned
Cite this Entry
“Unmanned.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unmanned. Accessed 13 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
unmanned
adjective
un·manned
ˌən-ˈmand 
ˈən-
: having no crew aboard
an unmanned spacecraft
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