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Unemployed vs Inactive - What's the difference?

unemployed | inactive | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between unemployed and inactive

is that unemployed is having no profession (despite being able and willing to work) while inactive is not active, temporarily or permanently.

As a noun unemployed

is unemployed people.

unemployed

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Having no profession (despite being able and willing to work).
  • Having no use, not doing work
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=November 12 , author= , title=International friendly: England 1-0 Spain , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=England's attacking impetus was limited to one shot from Lampard that was comfortably collected by keeper Iker Casillas, but for all Spain's domination of the ball his England counterpart Joe Hart was unemployed .}}

    Synonyms

    * (having no job) jobless, out of work (used only after the noun ), out-of-work

    Related terms

    * unemployment

    Noun

    (en-plural noun)
  • Unemployed people.
    • The unemployed are a growing portion of the population.

    Usage notes

    * This is not a true noun. It is an example of a "fused-head" construction in which an adjective (or possessive or determiner) is assumed to have fused with an omitted noun which is grammatically required.

    Synonyms

    * jobless

    inactive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not active, temporarily or permanently
    • The volcano is inactive , but is only dormant.
  • Not functioning or operating; broken down
    • The photocopier is inactive pending repair.
  • Retired from duty or service
    • Admiral Jones is now on the inactive list.
  • (chemistry) Relatively inert
    • Aluminium is inactive towards water.
  • (physics) Showing no optical activity in polarized light
    • Synthetic glycine is optically inactive as it contains equal amounts of the d- and l- form.

    Derived terms

    * inactively * inactivity

    Synonyms

    * (not active) dull, dormant * (not functioning or operating) idle

    Antonyms

    * (not active) active