Meaning & use
unfurnished
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Describing a house or room rented or sold without beds, tables, sofas and other movable furniture.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: an unfurnished flat; the flat is unfurnished.
Patterns
- an unfurnished flat
- rent something unfurnished
We rented an unfurnished apartment and bought a sofa the first week.
Is the house furnished or unfurnished?
The listing says the flat comes unfurnished.
adjectivenot comparable
Empty of furniture or decoration for the time being, such as a room not yet set up.
Grammar: Describes a state, not a rental type.
Patterns
- an unfurnished room
The unfurnished room echoed when we spoke.
The new office was still unfurnished.
She stared at the bare, unfurnished hallway.
Common combinations
- unfurnished flat
- An unfurnished flat is cheaper to rent.
- rent unfurnished
- We decided to rent unfurnished.
- unfurnished room
- The unfurnished room felt large.
- unfurnished let
- This is an unfurnished let for twelve months.
Synonyms and how they differ
- empty
- Empty can mean nothing at all inside, including no people, while unfurnished just means no furniture.
- bare
- Bare suggests a plain, stripped look, often with no decoration at all.
- unequipped
- Unequipped suggests missing tools or equipment rather than furniture.
Opposites
Word family
- furnish verb
- to provide with furniture
- furnished adjective
- supplied with furniture
- furniture noun
- movable items such as chairs and tables
- furnishings noun
- furniture and fittings
Commonly confused: unfurnished or unfurl?
unfurnished vs unfurl
Unfurl means to unroll a flag or sail and is not about furniture.
Practice
The apartment is advertised as unfurnished, so the tenant must probably bring their own ______.
Choose one answer.
Unfurnished means no movable furniture like beds and sofas. Fixed parts such as doors and sinks are normally included.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unfurnished”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.