Unpaid Meaning
/ʌnˈpeɪd/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot paid for.
adjOf work: done without agreed payment, usually voluntarily.
Sentence Examples
A promise made is a debt unpaid.
My unpaid liabilities are still $100.
She took a two-week unpaid leave of absence from work.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The worker complained to the manager because he received an ____ paycheck for his extra hours.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She did a lot of ____ work for the local charity, helping them to organize several major events this year today.
Word Origin & History
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 paid English unpaid From un- + paid.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Plea, that R. and E. being ſeiſed of lands, were diſſeiſed by plaintiff, who demiſed to defendent;^([sic]) R. and E. re-entered before any rent was unpaid."
— 1798, John Wentworth, A Complete System of Pleading: Comprehending the Most Approved Precedents and Forms of Practice; Consisting of Such as have Never before been Published: With an Index to the Principal Work, Incorporating and Making it a Continuation of Townshend's and Cornwall's Tables, to the Present Time; as Well as an Index of Reference to All the Ancient and Modern Entries Extant, volume VII (Debt. Detinue.), London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 625:
"[T]he plaintiff re-sold the said one hundred and sixty-five bags of Russian and German wool so remaining unaccepted by the defendants and unpaid for by them, by public sale, at and for a much less sum, to wit, the sum of 2000l. less than the sum so agreed to be paid by the defendants for the same; […]"
— 1828 May 19, “Maclean v. Dunn and Watkins”, in The Law Journal for the Year 1828: Comprising Reports of Cases in the Courts of Chancery, King's Bench, and Common Pleas, from Michaelmas Term 1827, to Trinity Term 1828, both inclusive. And Cases Connected with the Duties and Office of Magistrates, Decided during Those Terms, volume IV, London: Printed by James Holmes, 4, Took's Court, Chancery Lane, for J. W. Paget, 5, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, →OCLC, page 185, column 1:
"The volume of unpaid consumption in movies appears to be lower, particularly in the United States. Rob and Waldfogel (2007) report that only about 5 percent of movie consumption among University of Pennsylvania students in 2005 was unpaid (at a time when about half of a similar population's music consumption was unpaid)."
— 2012, Joel Waldfogel, “Digital Piracy: Empirics”, in Martin Peitz, Joel Waldfogel, editors, The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 540:
"A growing number of U.S. cities are alerting residents to a widespread phishing scam involving fraudulent text messages about unpaid parking violations."
— 2025 March 11, Sunny Yadav, “US Cities Warn of Surge in Unpaid Parking Phishing Text Scams”, in eSecurity Planet:
"Farm labor is a critical input in agricultural production. Farm operators provide just about half of all labor hours in agriculture, most of which are unpaid. An additional 18 percent of farm labor hours are unpaid hours provided by farm household members, partners, and others."
— 1996 March, Hisham S. El-Osta, Mary C. Ahearn, “Introduction”, in Estimating the Opportunity Cost of Unpaid Farm Labor for U.S. Farm Operators (Technical Bulletin; no. 1848), Washington, D.C.: Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 1:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The worker complained to the manager because he received an ____ paycheck for his extra hours.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She did a lot of ____ work for the local charity, helping them to organize several major events this year today.