Meanings
comparative more unemployable · superlative most unemployable
- Not employable.
plural unemployables
- A person who is not suited to employment.
No longer are stereotypical gay men the sole victims of police entrapment. No longer are unwashed unemployables the only ones who would consider biting a cop during the course of an arrest. The solons and jurists of yesterday may well become the convicts of tomorrow.
1976 August 28, David P. Brill, “Talking Politics”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 11
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivenot acceptable for employment as a worker
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishemploy
- Englishemployable
- Englishunemployable
From un- + employable.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German nicht erwerbsfähig, nicht erwerbsfähige Person
- nicht erwerbsfähignot employable
- nicht erwerbsfähige Personperson not suited to employment
Hungarian alkalmazhatatlan
- alkalmazhatatlannot employable
Swedish oanställningsbar
- oanställningsbarnot employable
Cite this entry
unemployable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unemployable
“unemployable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unemployable. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unemployable,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unemployable.
Source: unemployable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.