unavailable
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Not able to be obtained, used, or reached at this time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnuhvayluhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənəˈveɪləbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not available or accessible or at hand
“Fresh milk was unavailable during the emergency.”
noun
UShistory
A communist who operated underground and was therefore not available for a political leadership position.
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Unavailable means the thing cannot be obtained, or the person cannot be reached right now.
- un-
- not, or without
- avail
- be of use
- -able
- capable of being
Prefix function , Not — expresses absence of the quality
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not available or accessible or at hand
Used this way, unavailable is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Fresh milk was unavailable during the emergency.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use unavailable
- “Fresh milk was unavailable during the emergency.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.