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Glite Dictionary
unloaded

unloaded

3.7
Not having bullets inside a gun
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈloʊdɪd/
translation icon : descargado
  • Most gun owners responsibly keep guns away from children and store them locked and unloaded in their homes.

Examples

  • Before cleaning the rifle, make sure it is unloaded to prevent any accidents.

  • For safety reasons, the pistol was stored locked and unloaded in the cabinet.

  • The firearms instructor emphasized that every weapon should always be assumed unloaded during training.

Antonyms

loaded
2.6

Full of things so it is heavy or crowded

Surface Forms

unloaded positive

Morphology

unloaded = loaded (transparent) = un + load + ed

A straightforward negation with the productive prefix 'un-' applied to 'loaded' to mean 'not loaded'.

Etymology

The word unloaded is made of the prefix un- ('not') and load ('to put things in'), the same 'load' you see in truckload or when you 'load your bag'. So an unloaded gun has 'no load', no bullets, and is not ready to fire.