unaided

adjective

un·​aid·​ed ˌən-ˈā-dəd How to pronounce unaided (audio)
: not provided with help or assistance
a star that is visible to the unaided eye [=that can be seen without a telescope or binoculars]
: not aided or assisted
paid for her education unaided by her parents
… he walks unaided except for a simple wooden cane.Kate Coyne

Examples of unaided in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Both can be strikingly bright, easily visible to the unaided eye. Lisa M. Krieger, The Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2024 The males are not visible to the unaided eye, and the females can only barely be seen if they're engorged If there aren't enough beetles to feast upon, the mites will inadvertently bite mammals, such as horses, cattle, and humans. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 26 June 2023 Datta wanted to move beyond the movements visible to the unaided eye and use video cameras to track and compute whether a rodent avoids an odor (that of predator urine, for instance) or is attracted to it (like the smell of roses). Popular Science, 10 Jan. 2024 At the end of the night, he was spotted walking unaided to the team bus flanked by Brown, a few players and assorted staffers. Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 21 Nov. 2022 The Webb telescope focused on a part of the sky called the North Ecliptic Pole and was able to use eight different colors of near-infrared light to see celestial objects that are 1 billion times fainter than what can be seen with the unaided eye. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 14 Dec. 2022 For starters, while Hubble is primarily sensitive to visible light, Webb records infrared light that’s invisible to the unaided eye. Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 July 2023 It cannot be seen unaided from the moon, although other results of human activity can be seen, NASA has specified. Sarah Dadouch, Washington Post, 5 Sep. 2023 The next brightest is Canopus at –0.72, followed by the multiple stars of Alpha Centauri (which appear as just one to the unaided eye) at –0.3. Phil Plait, Scientific American, 28 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unaided.' 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

1667, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unaided was in 1667

Dictionary Entries Near unaided

Cite this Entry

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

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