Word.ws English Dictionary

unleaded

UK/ˌʌnˈlɛd.əd/

unleaded adjective: without lead. Also the past of unlead.

Adjective

unleaded (not comparable)

  1. Without lead.
  2. (US standards of identity) Containing no more than 0.05 grams of lead per gallon.
  3. (US, slang) Decaffeinated.
    • I order a draft beer and a decaf coffee for Cha. The bartender tells me in a nice way they don't have unleaded coffee.1999, Chuck Fair, Deviants, →ISBN, page 31
    • “Could I get you a drink, coffee, or something?” “Unleaded coffee if Alex has any.”2016, Charles L. McGranaghan, The Patriot Group, an American novel, →ISBN, page 368
  4. (Australia, slang) Having low alcohol content.
    • Richie Pace ordered an unleaded beer.2015, Dan Jenkins, You Gotta Play Hurt, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    light

Noun

unleaded (usually uncountable, plural unleadeds)

  1. (usually) An unleaded fuel.
    • Because one of the unleadeds just might turn out to be the right gasoline for your car. By right, I mean the one that gives you the best balance between price and performance.1976, Newsweek, volume 87, page 292
    • Check the pumps and you'll see some economy unleadeds with octane (antiknock) ratings as low as 86; some quality unleadeds rate as high as 89.1984, Mechanix Illustrated, volume 80, page 18
  2. (US, slang, usually) Decaffeinated coffee.
    • And while you may enjoy your morning coffee buzz, caffeine is active in the bloodstream for up to nine hours, so it is best to switch to unleaded after noon.2012, Sarah Samaan, Best Practices for a Healthy Heart, →ISBN
  3. (Australia, slang, usually) Low-alcohol beer.

Also used as

unleaded is also the past of unlead.

Synonyms of unleaded

All synonyms of unleaded

Forms of unleaded

pluralunleadeds

Origin of unleaded

From un- + leaded. The US standard of identity comes from 40 CFR §79.32.

Words formed from unleaded

Questions about unleaded

What does unleaded mean?
Unleaded means without lead.
What part of speech is unleaded?
Unleaded can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce unleaded?
Unleaded is pronounced /ˌʌnˈlɛd.əd/ (UK).

Words near unleaded in the dictionary

  1. unlazy
  2. unleachable
  3. unleached
  4. unlead
  5. unleadable
  6. unleaded
  7. unleadeds
  8. unleaderly
  9. unleading
  10. unleads
  11. unleaf

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unleaded (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-unleaded.ogg, en-au-unleaded.ogg.

Cite this entry: “unleaded.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unleaded. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.