Standard Lemma guide

unemployment

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N IH0 M P L OY1 M AH0 N T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of having no job; joblessness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Unemployment made Jack depressed.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The phenomenon of joblessness in an economy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Unemployment has been considered a cause of crime.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The level of joblessness in an economy, often measured as a percentage of the workforce.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Unemployment was reported at 5.2% in May, up from 4.9% in April.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A type of joblessness due to a particular economic mechanism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • All unemployments, seasonal, frictional, cyclical, classical, whatever, mean that you're out of work.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

An instance or period of joblessness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • Until then his life had consisted of low-paying jobs, numerous unemployments, and drug use.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

the state of being unemployed or not having a job

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • unemployment is a serious social evil
  • the rate of unemployment is an indicator of the health of an economy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: employment

Broader terms: state

History

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 employment English unemployment From un- + employment.

Across languages

Translations

113 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: werkloosheid — joblessness
  • Albanian: papunësi — joblessness
  • Arabic: بِطَالَة (biṭāla) — joblessness
  • Arabic: بَطَالَة (baṭāla) — joblessness
  • Arabic: شوماج (šomāj) — joblessness
  • Arabic: بَطَالَة (baṭāla) — joblessness
  • Armenian: գործազրկություն (gorcazrkutʻyun) — joblessness
  • Azerbaijani: işsizlik — joblessness
  • Bashkir: эшһеҙлек (eşheźlek) — joblessness
  • Belarusian: беспрацо́ўя (bjespracówja) — joblessness
  • Belarusian: незаня́тасць (njezanjátascʹ) — joblessness
  • Belarusian: незаня́тасьць (njezanjátasʹcʹ) — joblessness
  • Bengali: দূর (dur) — joblessness
  • Bengali: বেকারত্ব (bekarotto) — joblessness
  • Bulgarian: безрабо́тица (bezrabótica) — joblessness
  • Burmese: အလုပ်လက်မဲ့ဖြစ်ခြင်း (a.luplakmai.hprachkrang:) — joblessness
  • Catalan: atur — joblessness
  • Catalan: parada forçosa — joblessness
  • Catalan: manca de treball — joblessness
  • Catalan: desocupació — joblessness
  • Chechen: белхазалла (belxazalla) — joblessness
  • Chinese Cantonese: 失業 /失业 (sat1 jip6) — joblessness
  • Hakka Chinese: 失業 /失业 (sṳt-ngia̍p) — joblessness
  • Chinese: 失業 /失业 (zh-min-nan) — joblessness
  • Chinese Mandarin: 失業 /失业 (shīyè) — joblessness
  • Chuvash: ӗҫсӗрлӗх (ĕśsĕrlĕh) — joblessness
  • Czech: nezaměstnanost — joblessness
  • Danish: arbejdsløshed — joblessness
  • Dutch: werkloosheid — joblessness
  • Esperanto: maldungo — joblessness
  • Estonian: tööpuudus — joblessness
  • Faroese: arbeiðsloysi — joblessness
  • Finnish: työttömyys — joblessness
  • French: chômage — joblessness
  • Georgian: უმუშევრობა (umuševroba) — joblessness
  • German: Arbeitslosigkeit — joblessness
  • German: Werklosigkeit — joblessness
  • German: Beschäftigungslosigkeit — joblessness
  • Greek: ανεργία (anergía) — joblessness
  • Hebrew: אַבְטָלָה (avtalá) — joblessness
  • Hindi: बेरोज़गारी (berozgārī) — joblessness
  • Hindi: बेकारी (bekārī) — joblessness
  • Hungarian: munkanélküliség — joblessness
  • Icelandic: atvinnuleysi — joblessness
  • Ido: neemployeso — joblessness
  • Indonesian: pengangguran — joblessness
  • Irish: dífhostaíocht — joblessness
  • Italian: disoccupazione — joblessness
  • Italian: inoccupazione — joblessness
  • Japanese: 失業 (shitsugyō) — joblessness
  • Kazakh: жұмыссыздық (jūmyssyzdyq) — joblessness
  • Khmer: និកម្មភាព (nikammaʼphiəp) — joblessness
  • Khmer: អកម្មភាព (ʼaʼkammaʼphiəp) — joblessness
  • Korean: 실업 (sireop) — joblessness
  • Central Kurdish: بێ ئیشی (bê îşî) — joblessness
  • Central Kurdish: بێکاری (bêkarî) — joblessness
  • Northern Kurdish: bêkarî — joblessness
  • Northern Kurdish: bêşolî — joblessness
  • Northern Kurdish: betalî — joblessness
  • Kyrgyz: жумушсуздук (jumuşsuzduk) — joblessness
  • Lao: ໄພຫວ່າງງານ (phai huāng ngān) — joblessness
  • Lao: ການວ່າງງານ (kān wāng ngān) — joblessness
  • Latvian: bezdarbs — joblessness
  • Lithuanian: nedarbas — joblessness
  • Macedonian: неврабо́теност (nevrabótenost) — joblessness
  • Malay: pengangguran — joblessness
  • Maltese: qgħad — joblessness
  • Manx: mee-staartaght — joblessness
  • Manx: neufailleydys — joblessness
  • Mongolian: ажилгүйдэл (ažilgüjdel) — joblessness
  • Norman: d'sempliai — joblessness
  • Norwegian Bokmål: arbeidsledighet — joblessness
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: arbeidsløyse — joblessness
  • Ossetian: ӕнӕкуыст — joblessness
  • Pashto: بې روزګاري (be rozgāri) — joblessness
  • Pashto: بېکاري (bekāri) — joblessness
  • Iranian Persian: بیکاری (bi-kâri) — joblessness
  • Iranian Persian: بیکاری (bikâri) — joblessness
  • Polish: bezrobocie — joblessness
  • Portuguese: desemprego — joblessness
  • Punjabi: ਬੇਕਾਰੀ (bekārī) — joblessness
  • Punjabi: بیکاری (bī-kārī) — joblessness
  • Romanian: șomaj — joblessness
  • Russian: безрабо́тица (bezrabótica) — joblessness
  • Russian: неза́нятость (nezánjatostʹ) — joblessness
  • Scottish Gaelic: cion-cosnaidh — joblessness
  • Serbo-Croatian: неза̀послено̄ст — joblessness
  • Serbo-Croatian: nezàposlenōst — joblessness
  • Slovak: nezamestnanosť — joblessness
  • Slovene: brezposelnost — joblessness
  • Spanish: desempleo — joblessness
  • Spanish: paro — joblessness
  • Swedish: arbetslöshet — joblessness
  • Tagalog: kawalang-hanapbuhay — joblessness
  • Tajik: бекорӣ (bekori) — joblessness
  • Tatar: эшсезлек (eşsezlek) — joblessness
  • Thai: การว่างงาน (gaan-wâang-ngaan) — joblessness
  • Turkish: işsizlik — joblessness
  • Turkmen: işsizlik — joblessness
  • Ukrainian: безробі́ття (bezrobíttja) — joblessness
  • Ukrainian: неза́йнятість (nezájnjatistʹ) — joblessness
  • Urdu: بے روزْگاری (be rozgārī) — joblessness
  • Urdu: بیروزْگاری (berozgārī) — joblessness
  • Urdu: بے کاری (be kārī) — joblessness
  • Urdu: بیکاری (bekārī) — joblessness
  • Uyghur: ئىشسىزلىق (ishsizliq) — joblessness
  • Uzbek: ishsizlik — joblessness
  • Vietnamese: sự thất nghiệp — joblessness
  • Volapük: nenvob — joblessness
  • Welsh: diweithdra — joblessness
  • Welsh: anghyflogaeth — joblessness
  • Yiddish: אַרבעטסלאָזיקייט (arbetslozikeyt) — joblessness
  • Zazaki: bêkariye — joblessness
Real reading context

unemployment in complete knowledge articles