Standard Lemma guide

workless

adj · 3 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

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Devoid of work.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • In the future, will machines end the need for employment and lead to a workless society?
  • 1935, Christopher Isherwood, Mr Norris Changes Trains (U.S. title: The Last of Mr Norris), Chapter Eight, in The Berlin Stories, New York: New Directions, 1963, p. 87, And morning after morning, all over the immense, damp, dreary town and the packing-case colonies of huts in the suburb allotments, young men were waking up to another workless empty day to be spent as they could best contrive [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Having no work to do; unemployed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Not carried out in practice; not exemplified in fact.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom Proto-Germanic *werką Proto-West Germanic *werk Old English weorc Middle English werk English work Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English workless From work + -less.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: безработен (bezraboten) — unemployed
  • Ottoman Turkish: كارسز (kârsız) — unemployed