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, NASA has since the early 21st century used and prescribed non-gender-specific 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
Reflecting what is happening with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), another key objective of Ukraine's naval drone programme is to develop machines that can intercept and destroy enemy drones.
—
Anastasiia Malenko, USA Today, 22 Oct. 2025
Although no direct dollar amount was attached to that order, the Big Beautiful Bill has allocated billions of dollars in unmanned aerial systems and AI development.
—Ryan Baker,andrew Evers, CNBC, 21 Oct. 2025
One of the biggest disruptions so far may have been felt at Hollywood Burbank Airport on October 6 when its air traffic control tower was left unmanned for a few hours.
—AFAR Media, 17 Oct. 2025
The company plans to connect the quadruped with its Cerberus MI small unmanned aerial system (sUAS), creating a networked ecosystem where aerial and ground robots coordinate in real-time to support special operations and reconnaissance missions.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unmanned
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Anastasiia Malenko, USA Today, 22 Oct. 2025
Although no direct dollar amount was attached to that order, the Big Beautiful Bill has allocated billions of dollars in unmanned aerial systems and AI development.
—Ryan Baker,andrew Evers, CNBC, 21 Oct. 2025
One of the biggest disruptions so far may have been felt at Hollywood Burbank Airport on October 6 when its air traffic control tower was left unmanned for a few hours.
—AFAR Media, 17 Oct. 2025
The company plans to connect the quadruped with its Cerberus MI small unmanned aerial system (sUAS), creating a networked ecosystem where aerial and ground robots coordinate in real-time to support special operations and reconnaissance missions.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unmanned
Cite this Entry
“Unmanned.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unmanned. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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unmanned
adjective
un·manned
ˌən-ˈmand 
ˈən-
: having no crew aboard
an unmanned spacecraft
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