Unsold means not bought or purchased, remaining available even though someone tried to sell it. When a store has unsold inventory at the end of the season, those are items still sitting on the shelves that no customers bought. When a house remains unsold after months on the market, it means no one has agreed to purchase it yet.

The word often appears when describing business results or leftover goods. A bakery might discount its unsold bread at closing time. A car dealership counts its unsold vehicles at year's end. Concert organizers worry about unsold tickets as the show date approaches.

Something being unsold isn't necessarily bad: maybe the price is too high, maybe people haven't discovered it yet, or maybe the timing is wrong. That unpopular toy gathering dust might become a collector's item years later. But businesses generally want to avoid too many unsold goods, since they've already spent money making or buying those items. When things remain unsold too long, companies often reduce prices to clear them out, which is why end-of-season sales exist.