1
as in inexperienced
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
an unskilled handling of the facial features in the portrait explains why it is attributed to "school of Velázquez" and not to the master himself
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in incompetent
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
hired unskilled workers because they would work for lower wages
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unskilled
No army in history seemed ever to have been more ragged and motley and mongrel and polyglot than the Continental, rich and poor, learned and illiterate, from boys to old men, skilled and unskilled, born all over the world, speaking dozens of languages, believing in different gods and in no god.
—
Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
The network also reported female health workers saying that their newer colleagues were likely to be unskilled women who came from Taliban-loyal families.
—NPR, 14 Oct. 2025
Unfortunately, the rest of the roster is too big and unskilled, a downstream consequence of buying into the fiction that Davis is a power forward.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Lane change issues, road debris or an unskilled driver are all quickly visible in the rear-view mirror with a tap on the accelerator.
—James Raia, Mercury News, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unskilled
Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
The network also reported female health workers saying that their newer colleagues were likely to be unskilled women who came from Taliban-loyal families.
—NPR, 14 Oct. 2025
Unfortunately, the rest of the roster is too big and unskilled, a downstream consequence of buying into the fiction that Davis is a power forward.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Lane change issues, road debris or an unskilled driver are all quickly visible in the rear-view mirror with a tap on the accelerator.
—James Raia, Mercury News, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unskilled
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unskilled
Adjective
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Mullin will also face congressional Democrats’ wrath as lawmakers on Capitol Hill have already begun to investigate DHS for the massive contracts to individuals and companies that were inexperienced, had connections to Noem’s staff, or contained other irregularities.—
Anna Giaritelli,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Mar. 2026
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Schaeffer won over most of the Rockies players quickly, but, fielding a young, inexperienced team, Colorado limped toward the finish line, going 4-21 in September.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
22 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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To this day, no court has found Newman is incompetent.—
Carrie Johnson,
NPR,
29 Mar. 2026
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Court documents show Lloyd has been found incompetent to stand trial multiple times in Hennepin County for charges of stalking.—
WCCO Staff,
CBS News,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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This is Ganne's sixth time playing the ANWA, which already has become as prestigious as any amateur event in women's golf, mainly because of where the final round is played.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Apr. 2026
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Dozens of amateur and professional photographers were invited to find beauty in the invisible world of force fields and subatomic particles, which blip into existence for fractions of a second and hold secrets about the origin and fate of the universe.—
Zack Savitsky,
Quanta Magazine,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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One of the panelists was Peter Beinart, the writer whose book had been deemed unfit for study at Beth El.—
Eyal Press,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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There’s a longstanding debate about the relative health effects of being overweight versus being aerobically unfit.—
Alex Hutchinson,
Outside,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.—
Patricia Shannon,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 May 2025
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The venerable American clan at the center of the narrator’s reminiscences are wholly unfitted to the modern world and no longer endowed with the fortune that one of them brought home long ago on clipper ships.—
Daniel Akst,
WSJ,
2 Sep. 2022
Adjective
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Both view the Lebanese government as still completely incapable of disarming Hezbollah, though both were shocked at the new assertiveness of Beirut as seen by Tuesday’s banishment of Iran’s ambassador.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
26 Mar. 2026
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Unfortunately, her plot confines these characters to another narrow set of roles, and most of them are portrayed as incapable of leaving their cage.—
Robert Rubsam,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unskilled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskilled. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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