unloading

verb

present participle of unload
1
as in discharging
to empty or rid of cargo the dockworkers unloaded the ship

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dumping
to get rid of as useless or unwanted I can't seem to unload this old car—even the charities won't take it!

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of unloading Getting thousands of sailors and tons of equipment off the ship is like unloading a small city. — Maxwell Adler, Vanity Fair, 8 Oct. 2026 Koons, one of the world’s most famous living artists, is said to be unloading the works in order to fund his own practice. — News Desk, Artforum, 5 Oct. 2026 An employee was also observed loading dirty dishes into a dish rack and subsequently unloading clean dishes from a dish rack without washing their hands. — Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026 Many showed up every morning, unloading pallets of potatoes, working the front desk, helping others who came for food. — Claire Galofaro, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026 Once that waterway closed, Saudi Arabia began re-routing crude along its East-to-West pipeline and unloading barrels at the Red Sea port of Yanbu. — Anna Cooban, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2026 We volunteers formed a fire line, one arm’s-length apart on either side, and started unloading the boxes. — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 Organizers said teams were already unloading equipment and the garages were being prepared, and the grandstands were receiving their final cleaning work. — ABC News, 9 Sep. 2026 With resellers scooping up a huge swath of the Open’s face-value tickets and unloading them at whatever price the (admittedly flush) market will bear, more and more fans in Ashe have little or no interest in what’s actually happening on the court. — Corey Seymour, Vogue, 4 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unloading
  1. discharging
  2. dumping
  3. unpacking
  4. discarding
  5. evacuating
  6. ditching
  7. off-loading
  8. losing
Verb
  • This is largely due to the complex chemical reactions that occur during charging and discharging.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Pump station number 8 was put to work clearing stormwater from both neighborhoods and discharging it into the New River.
    — Ted Scouten, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of discharging
Verb
  • Analysts are perking up about CoreWeave, even though investors are dumping shares and interest rates are rising in the economy.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Standing water and dumping rodents put a country club restaurant in timeout after an inspection Friday.
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of dumping
Verb
  • While there’s nothing like feeling settled in your new home, the physical act of packing all your stuff (sorting, tossing, and organizing it in boxes) and then unpacking it in another residence ranks somewhere between a root canal and filing taxes.
    — Perri Ormont Blumberg, Architectural Digest, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Jon Stewart set his sights on AI on the latest episode of The Daily Show, unpacking the threats posed by the technology and Donald Trump‘s mediocre reaction.
    — Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of unpacking
Verb
  • Keitel’s arrival meant discarding the work Ferrara and Walken had done together.
    — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Using more detergent than necessary means buying and discarding containers more often.
    — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of discarding
Verb
  • Jalisco state suspended classes on Friday and Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating people from at-risk areas while asking the tourism sector to make sure workers and visitors are fully accommodated in shelters or safe zones.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Jalisco state suspended classes on Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating dozens of people from at-risk areas.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of evacuating
Verb
  • By ditching expensive cobalt and nickel for cheap, abundant iron, automakers lower costs while creating a battery that is safer and less prone to fire.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Shoppers are ditching sweet gourmand perfumes and candles for something that smells like a backyard garden, and the tomato leaf fragrance trend is leading that shift this spring and summer.
    — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of ditching
Verb
  • The transaction contained fundamental flaws, and AT&T eventually reversed course by off-loading WarnerMedia and combining it with Discovery.
    — Paul Hardart, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Following quickly on the heels of spinning off Versant Media earlier this year, Comcast is now off-loading the entirety of NBCUniversal.
    — Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of off-loading
Verb
  • Atlanta reached the Finals for the first time since 2013 and after losing in its previous three appearances in the championship round, will be trying for their first as well.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Tim Boyd San Juan Capistrano I’m sure there are Dodgers fans unhappy about losing to the Brewers.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of losing

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unloaded
unloading
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Cite this Entry

“Unloading.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unloading. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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