untended

adjective

un·​tend·​ed ˌən-ˈten-dəd How to pronounce untended (audio)
: not managed, minded, or watched over : not tended
a stove that was left untended
an untended garden

Examples of untended in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Livestock proliferated around California, many of them untended and unfenced. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2024 Virgin Galactic has accomplished this sequence of six missions while its main competitor in the suborbital market—Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin—remains grounded after a New Shepard rocket failure nearly 14 months ago during a launch of untended research payloads. Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 3 Nov. 2023 Just down the street, thousands of chickens clucked in an untended poultry shed. Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2023 As cheaper overseas imports put Hawaiian plantations out of business in the end of the 20th century, that land sat untended. Christopher Flavelle, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2023 The program aims to revive untended and vacated spaces, leveraging the prowess of gardening. Kenneth J. Williams Jr., Forbes, 18 Apr. 2023 Many are ignited either by lightning strikes or human activity, including untended campfires, unextinguished cigarettes, engine sparks and equipment malfunction. Elena Shao, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2022 Oscar Alvarado spends all of his waking hours, and some sleeping ones, watching the Weather Channel in his home in parched West Los Angeles, paying no attention to the world around him, not even when his 3-year-old twin granddaughters fall into the untended backyard pool. Jim Kiest, San Antonio Express-News, 9 Sep. 2021 What few subplots there are go largely untended once the fight machine grinds into motion. Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 27 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'untended.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of untended was in 1598

Dictionary Entries Near untended

Cite this Entry

“Untended.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/untended. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on untended

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!