1
as in inexperienced
lacking or showing a lack of expert skill
an unskilled handling of the facial features in the portrait explains why it is attributed to "school of Velázquez" and not to the master himself
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in incompetent
lacking qualities (as knowledge, skill, or ability) required to do a job
hired unskilled workers because they would work for lower wages
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Recent Examples of unskilled
No army in history seemed ever to have been more ragged and motley and mongrel and polyglot than the Continental, rich and poor, learned and illiterate, from boys to old men, skilled and unskilled, born all over the world, speaking dozens of languages, believing in different gods and in no god.
—
Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
The network also reported female health workers saying that their newer colleagues were likely to be unskilled women who came from Taliban-loyal families.
—NPR, 14 Oct. 2025
Unfortunately, the rest of the roster is too big and unskilled, a downstream consequence of buying into the fiction that Davis is a power forward.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Lane change issues, road debris or an unskilled driver are all quickly visible in the rear-view mirror with a tap on the accelerator.
—James Raia, Mercury News, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unskilled
Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
The network also reported female health workers saying that their newer colleagues were likely to be unskilled women who came from Taliban-loyal families.
—NPR, 14 Oct. 2025
Unfortunately, the rest of the roster is too big and unskilled, a downstream consequence of buying into the fiction that Davis is a power forward.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Lane change issues, road debris or an unskilled driver are all quickly visible in the rear-view mirror with a tap on the accelerator.
—James Raia, Mercury News, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unskilled
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unskilled
Adjective
-
Steve Ponto said his daughter means well, but is inexperienced and especially passionate.—
Bridget Fogarty,
jsonline.com,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Messi went in as a halftime substitute in the 2-1 victory over Mauritania on March 27, a result against an inexperienced opponent that did not sit well with Scaloni.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Across the state in 2025, only five people faced Class 1 or Class 2 felonies, were found permanently incompetent to proceed, and saw their cases dismissed, Turner said.—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
5 Apr. 2026
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If the case takes the course prescribed under the Texas criminal procedure code and if a magistrate or a state district judge finds that Rodriguez-Singh is incompetent, she will likely be ordered admitted to a maximum-security unit at a state hospital for an attempt at competency restoration.—
Emerson Clarridge,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This is Ganne's sixth time playing the ANWA, which already has become as prestigious as any amateur event in women's golf, mainly because of where the final round is played.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Dozens of amateur and professional photographers were invited to find beauty in the invisible world of force fields and subatomic particles, which blip into existence for fractions of a second and hold secrets about the origin and fate of the universe.—
Zack Savitsky,
Quanta Magazine,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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One of the panelists was Peter Beinart, the writer whose book had been deemed unfit for study at Beth El.—
Eyal Press,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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There’s a longstanding debate about the relative health effects of being overweight versus being aerobically unfit.—
Alex Hutchinson,
Outside,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Mix Materials The beauty in the unfitted kitchen aesthetic is found in its collected look.—
Patricia Shannon,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 May 2025
-
The venerable American clan at the center of the narrator’s reminiscences are wholly unfitted to the modern world and no longer endowed with the fortune that one of them brought home long ago on clipper ships.—
Daniel Akst,
WSJ,
2 Sep. 2022
Adjective
-
Without factoring in the externalities of a merit good, there will always be the appearance of a market failure (the market will be incapable of delivering an optimal result).—
Laura Payne,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
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Unfortunately, her plot confines these characters to another narrow set of roles, and most of them are portrayed as incapable of leaving their cage.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unskilled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unskilled. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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