unmanned

adjective

un·​manned ˌən-ˈmand How to pronounce unmanned (audio)
Synonyms of unmannednext
1
see usage paragraph below : not carrying, staffed, or performed by people : not manned
an unmanned railroad crossing
unmanned spaceflight
2
of a hawk : not trained
Usage of Manned and Unmanned

While manned and unmanned are still commonly used in news sources to describe spaceflights with and without human crews, respectively, NASA has since the early 21st century used and prescribed gender-neutral terms, preferring such descriptors as human, piloted, and crewed for the former, and unpiloted and uncrewed for the latter.

Examples of unmanned in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
While the focus for now remains on small unmanned vehicles, the researchers hope to eventually simplify their findings enough to apply them to larger aircraft too. — New Atlas, 2 July 2026 The new branch institutionalizes Russia’s growing reliance on unmanned systems. — David Kirichenko, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026 As of Tuesday, the FBI Miami counter-unmanned aircraft systems mission had seized 57 unauthorized drones. — Larry Seward, CBS News, 26 June 2026 Autonomy enters production Unlike traditional unmanned ground vehicles that rely heavily on remote operators, Overland AI’s platform can navigate and make driving decisions independently. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 30 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for unmanned

Word History

First Known Use

1544, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of unmanned was in 1544

Rhymes for unmanned

See All Rhymes for unmanned

Browse Nearby Words

unmanly
unmanned
unmannered
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Unmanned.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unmanned. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

unmanned

adjective
un·​manned ˌən-ˈmand How to pronounce unmanned (audio)
ˈən-
: having no crew aboard
an unmanned spacecraft

More from Merriam-Webster on unmanned

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for unmanned

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All