unsheared

Everyday

Unsheared means not sheared: an unsheared sheep still has all its wool because it has not been clipped. tree →

In the lessons

Used on farms and in stories about sheep and shearing; in science and geography lessons about wool. In maths word problems, sheep may be sheared or unsheared: unsheared = total − sheared. Related: shear (to cut wool off), shearer, shorn.

Examples

• Twenty sheep were sheared, but ten are still unsheared. tree →
• The unsheared sheep looked fat and fluffy. tree →
• An unsheared sheep can get too hot in summer. tree →
• The farmer counted the unsheared sheep in the pen. tree →
• There are 60 sheep; 45 are sheared, so 15 are unsheared. tree →

Note

«Un-» + «sheared». Past of «shear» is «sheared», and the adjective «shorn» also means cut. Homophone trap: «sheer» (very steep, or complete) sounds like «shear». In maths: unsheared = total − sheared (60 − 45 = 15).