UNARMED

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unarmed mean? 

• UNARMED (adjective)
  The adjective UNARMED has 2 senses:

1. (used of persons or the military) not having or using arms

2. (used of plants or animals) lacking barbs or stings or thorns

  Familiarity information: UNARMED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNARMED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(used of persons or the military) not having or using arms

Context example:

unarmed vehicles

Similar:

barehanded (with bare hands)

clean (not carrying concealed weapons)

defenceless; defenseless (lacking weapons for self-defense)

weaponless (without a weapon)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Antonym:

armed ((used of persons or the military) characterized by having or bearing arms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(used of plants or animals) lacking barbs or stings or thorns

Similar:

spineless; thornless (lacking thorns)

Antonym:

armed ((used of plants and animals) furnished with bristles and thorns)

 Context examples 

At the same time, observing Gray to be unarmed, I handed him my cutlass.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I saw no inhabitants in the place where I landed, and being unarmed, I was afraid of venturing far into the country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

An assassin does not come unarmed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“And you know that I would kill an unarmed man as readily as I would smoke a cigar,” he went on.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I heard him once again when he slew a French squire with his teeth, he being unarmed and the Frenchman having a dagger.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you'll come up one by one, unarmed, I'll engage to clap you all in irons and take you home to a fair trial in England.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The other, who was evidently his squire and attendant, was unarmed save for the helmet upon his head, but bore in his right hand a very long and heavy oaken spear which belonged to his master.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Their code has been drummed into your head from the time you lisped, and in spite of your philosophy, and of what I have taught you, it won’t let you kill an unarmed, unresisting man.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I seen him grapple four and knock their heads together—him unarmed.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)