unemployed

/ˈʌnəmˌplɔɪd/

/ənɛmˈplɔɪd/

If you're ready to work but can't find a job, you're unemployed. It can be a struggle for someone who's unemployed to pay their bills.

People who lose their jobs are unemployed, at least until they find another one. Most governments have programs to support unemployed people as they search for work. To be employed means to have a paying job, but before the 17th century this word simply meant "be busy devoting yourself to something," and unemployed was used for people who weren't occupied with activities, but were enjoying some leisure time.

Definitions of unemployed

1. adjective

   not engaged in a gainful occupation
   “unemployed workers marched on the capital”

   synonyms:

   idle

   not in action or at work

   discharged, dismissed, fired, laid-off, pink-slipped

   having lost your job

   idle, jobless, out of work

   not having a job

   antonyms:

   employed

   having your services engaged for; or having a job especially one that pays wages or a salary

   busy

   actively or fully engaged or occupied

   engaged

   having services contracted for

   hired

   having services engaged for a fee

   on the job, working

   actively engaged in paid work
2. noun

   people who are involuntarily out of work (considered as a group)
   “the long-term unemployed need assistance”

   synonyms: unemployed people

   type of:

   people

   (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively