Unfinished

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "Unfinished" is correct and usable in written English. You can use it to describe something that is not completed or lacks final touches. For example, "The painting remains unfinished, leaving the canvas bare in some areas." Alternative expressions include "incomplete," "not completed," and "in progress."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Formal & Business

Arts

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

60 human-written examples

Some 750,000 on strike and playing for unbelievably high stakes, a government pledged to complete unfinished Tory business – and still, a deathly cultural quiet.

The Guardian - Opinion

Twenty-two people are crammed into an unfinished house donated by a local businessman, who loaned out the tiny, windowless building when he saw her and a group of fellow refugees sleeping rough in the streets.

The Guardian

"I feel I've got a bit of unfinished business with England and also repaying people's trust and the work people have put in with me in the last four months," he said.

The Guardian - Sport

A century later, this remains unfinished business, and so a legislature based on feudal patronage goes on.

The Guardian - Opinion

It's always messy and unfinished, but I've started to love the job of management too, though I've had to keep that quiet, and still do.

The Guardian

His central contention – that the recovery is not reaching enough people and is not matched by a general improvement in quality of life – is a powerful riposte to the principal Tory claims regarding the economy, competence and unfinished business.

The Guardian - Opinion

And although the complicated vote-counting process remains unfinished, in the new Senate, which starts next July, Abbott now appears likely to need all or most of between six and eight non-Green crossbench votes to pass legislation.

The Guardian

As well as leaving the Large Glass unfinished, Duchamp left papers about unrealised projects.

The Guardian - Arts

The very last line of Playing To Win, the account of Hawthorn's 2013 premiership, was a quote from Roughead about them having unfinished business.

The Guardian - Sport

These solutions are just one aspect of a much larger, unfinished conversation about how to preserve today's digital content for the future.

The Guardian

Craske's widow gave the Dunkirk embroidery, which she regarded as his masterpiece despite the poignant patch of bare unfinished canvas in the sky, to the Norwich Castle museum.

The Guardian - Arts

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Combine it with 'business' to create the idiomatic expression 'unfinished business', which is highly effective in both political and personal storytelling

Common error

Avoid using "unfinished" to describe a person's character or skills in a way that sounds derogatory; instead, use more precise terms like "developing" or "unrefined". Additionally, do not use it as a synonym for 'broken' if the item was never completed to begin with.

Linguistic Context

In the data provided by Ludwig, "unfinished" primarily functions as an adjective that modifies nouns to describe a state of lack. It frequently appears in attributive positions (e.g. "unfinished house") or predicative positions (e.g. "the job is unfinished"). Its role is to qualify a noun by indicating that its intended development or production cycle is at a standstill.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

News & Media

75%

Formal & Business

15%

Arts

10%

Less common in

Science

5%

Academia

3%

Social Media

2%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "unfinished" is a versatile and standard adjective used to describe anything from physical structures to abstract political goals. According to Ludwig, it is most frequently paired with the word 'business' to describe unresolved situations. The word carries a neutral to slightly formal tone and is exceptionally common in high-quality journalism. Ludwig AI confirms its grammatical correctness in all contexts, whether you are discussing an "unfinished masterpiece" in the arts or "unfinished work" in a professional setting. To improve your writing, distinguish between "unfinished" (stopped work) and incomplete (missing parts) to provide clearer context for your readers.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

incomplete

more technical and suggests that specific parts are missing from a whole

undone

often used for tasks or buttons and implies something that should have been finished

in progress

shifts the focus from the state of being not done to the fact that work is currently happening

ongoing

suggests a continuous process rather than a static state of incompletion

unresolved

better suited for abstract issues, arguments or 'business' that has no conclusion

partial

indicates that only a fraction of the work exists

under construction

specifically applies to physical buildings or websites

fragmentary

suggests the work is broken or exists only in disconnected pieces

rough

implies the item is finished in substance but lacks final polishing or detail

pending

often used in administrative contexts for decisions waiting to be made

FAQs

What can I say instead of "unfinished"?

You can use alternatives like "incomplete", "undone" or "work in progress" depending on the context.

How to use "unfinished" in a sentence?

A common way to use it is: "The novel remained "unfinished" at the time of the author's death" or "I have some "unfinished business" to attend to."

What is the difference between "unfinished" and "incomplete"?

While often interchangeable, "unfinished" usually implies the act of working stopped, whereas "incomplete" simply means the whole is not present.

Can "unfinished" be used for buildings?

Yes, it is very common to describe an "unfinished house" or an "unfinished skyscraper" when construction has ceased.