Unemployments

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being without a job or work, which can lead to financial instability and hardship
2. A situation where individuals are unable to find suitable employment, resulting in economic and social challenges
3. Conditions characterized by the lack of job opportunities and the impact on individuals and communities when workers cannot secure employment

Etymology: "Unemployments" is the plural of "unemployment," and it is simply the plural of a noun that counts separate instances of joblessness, such as a rise in joblessness in different regions or periods. The base word is built from the prefix "un-," meaning "not," attached to "employment," which itself comes from "employ," borrowed from Old French "employer," meaning "to use" or "to apply." Employment therefore began as the idea of putting something to use, and only later came to mean paid work. The "un-" prefix is very old. It descends from a Germanic form of negation that English has carried since Old English, where it attached freely to verbs and adjectives, so that English speakers could build a negative form of almost any word. "Unemployment" was formed by adding this familiar prefix to "employment," which means the word was assembled from parts already in English rather than borrowed whole.

Synonyms: joblessness, unoccupation

Antonyms: employment, work