Unwashed means not cleaned with water and soap. Your hands might be unwashed before dinner, covered in dirt from playing outside. Unwashed dishes pile up in the sink after a meal, waiting for someone to scrub them clean.

The word can describe anything that needs washing: unwashed clothes in the laundry basket, an unwashed car covered in mud, or unwashed vegetables that still have soil clinging to them. When something is unwashed, you can often see or smell that it needs cleaning.

In a more positive sense, unwashed can simply mean natural or unprocessed, like unwashed wool that still contains oils from the sheep, making it water-resistant and useful for certain crafts.