The Meaning of NEET: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of NEET? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the abbreviation NEET, including its definition, usage, origin, and more!

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What does NEET stand for?

According to Definitions and Urban Dictionary, NEET stands for not in employment, education, or training. A young person who is not in education, employment, or training was first referred to as a NEET in the United Kingdom but its use has spread to other countries including Japan, China, and South Korea. This often refers to someone who is aged between 16 and 24 in the UK, and the subgroup of NEETs who are between the ages of 16–18 is frequently of particular focus. Other countries classify this slightly differently. For example, in Japan, the classification of a NEET is composed of people aged between 15 and 34 who are unemployed, not engaged in housework, people who are not not enrolled in school or work-related training, and who are not seeking work. This has been updated by the newly coined term NLEET in the 2013 report on Global Employment Trends for Youth by the International Labor Organization. The NLEET rate stands for “neither in the labor force nor in education or training,” which excludes people who are unemployed since they are technically still in the labor force.

This burgeoning classification has become the darling of right-wingers since it refers to a social under-class lacking drive, motivation or ambition which is often due to poverty and lack of opportunity, but people use this term with derogatory overtones and global significance. This term has been used by sociologists since the late 1990s as a category of people who are not in the field of education or vocational training, or are unemployed youth in the compulsory school age who have not completed graduation. This term is used in Britain, Canada, the United States to refer to Americans not in the labour market, in India, and more geographical locations. This could be a common insult in a social interaction for types of people in a younger generation who do not work in workplaces or have internships. 

According to The Free Dictionary, the abbreviation NEET also has a plethora of different meanings. While these are all still valid definitions, they are far less common and should be used sparingly to eliminate any confusion. If you do plan to use one of these different definitions for the acronym NEET, ensure that you are providing the reader or listener with the proper context to be able to decipher your intended meaning. This should be standard practice with any acronym that can have more than one definition.

  •  New England Environmental Technologies (Massachusetts)
  •  NSW (New South Wales) Energy Efficiency Trading (Australia)
  •  National Eligibility and Entrance Test (Indian entrance examination)
  •  New and Emerging Environmental Technology
  •  Northeast Estates and Trusts
  •  Nuclear Excitation by Electronic Transition

What are synonyms and antonyms of NEET?

There are many different words that are equivalent to the word NEET. Synonyms are words and phrases that have the same or a similar definition as another word or phrase. Synonyms are a useful English language tool because they can help you to avoid repeating the same word over and over again while simultaneously expanding your vocabulary. This list of synonyms for the word NEET is provided by Power Thesaurus

  •  jobs
  •  application
  •  leisured
  •  at a loose end
  •  idler
  •  laid off
  •  static
  •  dismissed
  •  passive
  •  lifeless
  •  service
  •  unapplied
  •  not tied down
  •  unemployed person
  •  made redundant
  •  depressed
  •  at loose ends
  •  collecting unemployment
  •  unused
  •  between jobs
  •  worklessness
  •  flat
  •  dormant
  •  untouched
  •  idle
  •  disengaged
  •  stationary
  •  uninhabited
  •  on the dole
  •  standing
  •  stopped
  •  on unemployment
  •  out of business
  •  immobile
  •  not use
  •  fallow
  •  easy
  •  available
  •  out of work
  •  unemployment
  •  unengaged
  •  not in service
  •  sluggish
  •  pink-slipped
  •  unexploited
  •  inoperative
  •  spare
  •  jobless
  •  without work
  •  unlived in
  •  no longer in use
  •  fired
  •  unexercised
  •  lazy
  •  indolent
  •  let
  •  unutilized
  •  motionless
  •  out of service
  •  joblessness
  •  labour
  •  at leisure
  •  unemployed worker
  •  mothballed
  •  at liberty
  •  dead
  •  not working
  •  unemployed people
  •  not in use
  •  still
  •  free
  •  unemployed man
  •  redundant
  •  down
  •  employ
  •  disused
  •  resting
  •  lethargic
  •  dole
  •  out of action
  •  extra
  •  off
  •  inactive
  •  unwaged
  •  out of a job
  •  not employed
  •  using
  •  unmoving
  •  work
  •  unemployable
  •  leisure
  •  out-of-work
  •  receiving benefit
  •  nonworker
  •  out of commission
  •  unoccupied
  •  vacant
  •  off work
  •  workless
  •  otiose
  •  unemployed

There are also a number of words that mean the opposite of the word NEET. These opposite words are known as antonyms, which are words and phrases that have the opposite definitions as another word or phrase. Antonyms are also a useful tool to expand a person’s vocabulary. This list of antonyms for the word NEET is also provided by Power Thesaurus

  •  useful
  •  involve
  •  having a full plate
  •  on duty
  •  involved
  •  hireling
  •  active
  •  working
  •  recruited
  •  leased
  •  bring into play
  •  in use
  •  applied
  •  functioned
  •  employee
  •  paid
  •  functioning
  •  in work
  •  in the laboratory
  •  engaged
  •  performing
  •  pursuing
  •  on assignment
  •  in employment
  •  committed
  •  engage
  •  busiest
  •  in process
  •  busier
  •  laboring
  •  hard at it
  •  served
  •  operated
  •  occupied
  •  operating
  •  practical
  •  already taken
  •  having fish to fry
  •  preoccupied
  •  waged
  •  chartered
  •  doing
  •  in the field
  •  exercised
  •  appoint
  •  subleased
  •  utilised
  •  running
  •  employed
  •  practice
  •  deployed
  •  in conference
  •  in a job
  •  swamped
  •  rented
  •  taken
  •  wielded
  •  exploited
  •  in a meeting
  •  retain
  •  signed up
  •  on the go
  •  contracted
  •  recruit
  •  spent
  •  dealing in
  •  utilize
  •  industrious
  •  on the job
  •  tied up
  •  busy
  •  hired
  •  practiced
  •  self-employed
  •  on the hop
  •  utilized
  •  holding down a job
  •  hard at work
  •  plied
  •  at it
  •  rushed off your feet
  •  appointed
  •  engrossed
  •  at work
  •  employ
  •  hire
  •  apply
  •  labored
  •  assiduous
  •  worked
  •  immersed
  •  used
  •  occupy
  •  busied
  •  in harness
  •  manipulated
  •  in gear
  •  absorbed
  •  sublet
  •  conducted
  •  exerted

Overall, the abbreviation NEET stands for not in employment, education, or training. This refers to a person who does not work, have an internship, or is in school or training.

Sources:

  1. NEET – What does NEET stand for? | The Free Dictionary 
  2. What does NEET mean? | Definitions 
  3. NEET | Urban Dictionary 
  4. nemployed synonyms – 767 Words and Phrases for Unemployed | Power Thesaurus 
  5. Unemployed antonyms – 319 Opposites of Unemployed | Power Thesaurus