Meanings
- not comparablebankingNot having been banked.
- not comparablebankingNot served by a bank.
But many feel as though it’s a matter of time before the MTA stops accepting cash, like many retailers have, which has essentially excluded people who are unbanked and lack a credit or debit card.
2025 December 28, Elisabeth Buchwald, “The end of the line: New York City’s iconic MetroCard is about to go out of service”, in CNN Business, CNN2 more examples
It targeted the unbanked poor – "the watchmen, tomato sellers and small-scale farmers" whom Mwangi lists as typical customers – with cheap savings accounts and microloans backed by unusual guarantees.
2009 January 2, Xan Rice, “Three million customers and still counting: the bank getting rich by helping the poor”, in The Guardian (London)[M]any low-income people are "unbanked" (not served by a financial institution), and thus nearly eaten alive by exorbitant fees. As the St. Louis Federal Reserve pointed out in 2010: "Unbanked consumers spend approximately 2.5 to 3 percent of a government benefits check and between 4 percent and 5 percent of payroll check just to cash them. […]["]
2015 January 18, Charles M. Blow, “How expensive is it to be poor”, in The New York TimesSynonyms: nonbanked
- not comparablerarerail transportOf a train, not having the assistance of a banker (etymology 3) when climbing a steep grade (or bank).
However, it was recently made obvious, both that the B.R./Sulzer Type 4s can comfortably negotiate the bank without help on the normal express train formations of this route, and also that the Western Region wants to eliminate the expense of providing bankers.
1961 December, “Unbanked trains on the Lickey”, in Trains Illustrated, page 711
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of unbank
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot served by a bank.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰeg-
- Proto-Germanic*bankiz
- Proto-West Germanic*banki
- Lombardicbank
- Italianbanca
- Middle Frenchbanque
- Englishbank
- Englishunbanked
Cite this entry
unbanked. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unbanked
“unbanked.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unbanked. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unbanked,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unbanked.
Source: unbanked on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.