adjective

• 1(of a person) without a paid job but available to work.

  ‘I was unemployed for three months’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a training programme for the long-term unemployed’
  • ‘There will also be money available for marketing and wage subsidies for firms hiring unemployed people.’
  • ‘The patient and the unemployed person are better described as beneficiaries of the service.’
  • ‘Unless you are unemployed or working less than 16 hours a week you may have to pay for advice.’
  • ‘An unemployed person can claim income support to live on and apply for help paying rent and council tax.’
  • ‘He is already repaying a loan he took and he was unemployed for eight months in 2004.’
  • ‘He was unemployed for three months and has now found a new job, but on a lot less money.’
  • ‘When I started my site I was unemployed or temping as a secretarial assistant in London.’
  • ‘This is a regime which rules through military courts, while between six and ten million people are unemployed.’
  • ‘In those days, crime was at a very low level, and the Minister knew every unemployed person by name.’
  • ‘Poor and unemployed people of all origins, clustered around District Six, participated.’
  • ‘A lot of unemployed people come to the centre trying to get computer skills to improve their chances of getting a job.’
  • ‘We have businesses who need skilled employees and unemployed people who need work.’
  • ‘Once he took part in a large demonstration of unemployed people in Battersea.’
  • ‘Millions of young, often well educated people are unemployed and face a bleak future.’
  • ‘Nearly one in ten people are unemployed in Germany, with almost one in five in the east.’
  • ‘It also hopes to get at least six unemployed people back into work.’
  • ‘The courses are free for unemployed people, while wage earners pay a small fee.’
  • ‘Young mums and unemployed people, as well as the elderly have complained they are not able to afford the new charges.’
  • ‘There is also the growing underclass of young unemployed people who have little prospect of moving upwards.’
  • ‘Many people are not aware of their full rights and entitlements as unemployed people.’

  Synonyms

  jobless, out of work, out of a job, not working, between jobs, workless, unwaged, unoccupied, idle

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1(of a thing) not in use.
     More example sentences

     • ‘you have to put your left foot under the clutch when it is unemployed’
     Synonyms

     not in use, out of use, not operating, not working, inactive, out of action, inoperative, non-functioning, out of service, unused, unoccupied, unemployed

     View synonyms