workless en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree 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.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Devoid of work.
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 […]
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(not-comparable) Having no work to do; unemployed.
The number of workless swelled to terrible dimensions
1516, Sir Thomas More, Utopia:A workless household is defined as a household that includes at least one person of working-age (men aged 16-64 years and women aged 16-59 years) where no one in the household aged 16 or over is in employment.
2007, Helping people from workless households into work (published by the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom)
- (not-comparable, obsolete) Not carried out in practice; not exemplified in fact.
Deriveds
Translations (2)
ota كارسز (unemployed) · bg безработен (unemployed)