Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

unemployed

/ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.90 in modern English

Syllables: un-em-ployed
IPA: /ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/

18

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having no job despite being able and willing to work.

adj

Having no use, not doing work

noun

The unemployed people of a society or the world, taken collectively.

Example Sentences

"The government announced a new initiative to help the unemployed."
"The number of unemployed keeps rising steadily."
"Several special types of unemployed workers are described. These include nonmodal workers, threshold workers, "the unemployables", and the physically handicapped."
"England's attacking impetus was limited to one shot from Lampard that was comfortably collected by keeper Iker Casillas, but for all Spain's domination of the ball his England counterpart Joe Hart was unemployed."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English employed English unemployed From un- + employed.

Derived Forms

funemployed unemployedness

Phrases

shake hands with the unemployed lay off

Frequently Paired Words

unemployment lay off

Synonyms

jobless workless disused idle abeyant at rest cessant dormant dull fallow hibernating inactive

Antonyms

employed working in use

Rhymes With

avoid destroyed enjoyed employed lloyd deployed void annoyed boyd floyd freud devoid

Questions

How do you pronounce unemployed?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/.
What does unemployed mean?: Having no job despite being able and willing to work.
Where does unemployed come from?: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English employed English unemployed From un- + employed.

How to pronounce unemployed

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “unemployed”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “unemployed”.
Repeat and practice — Say “unemployed” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.