When something is unfulfilled, it hasn't been completed, satisfied, or achieved. An unfulfilled promise is one that someone made but never kept. An unfulfilled order at a store means the customer paid for something but hasn't received it yet. An unfulfilled dream is one you still hope to accomplish someday.

The word often describes a feeling of incompleteness. A student who loves art but never gets to take art classes might feel unfulfilled, like something important is missing from their school experience. Someone with unfulfilled potential has abilities they haven't used yet. When you finish a book that ends too abruptly, leaving questions unanswered, you might feel unfulfilled as a reader.

The word can also describe practical matters: an unfulfilled requirement means you haven't checked off everything needed for something, like when your community service hours for a school project are still unfulfilled. Notice that unfulfilled often suggests something was supposed to happen but didn't, creating a gap between expectation and reality.