worker

American  

[wur-ker] / ˈwɜr kər /

noun

1. a person or thing that works.

2. a laborer or employee.

   steel workers.

3. a person engaged in a particular field, activity, or cause.

   a worker in psychological research; a worker for the Republican Party.

4. Entomology.

   1. a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped, nonreproductive bees, specialized to collect food and maintain the hive.

   2. a similar member of a specialized caste of ants, termites, or wasps.

5. Printing.  one of a set of electrotyped plates used to print from (molder ).

6. any of several rollers covered with card clothing that work in combination with the stripper rollers and the cylinder in the carding of fibers.

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worker British  

/ ˈwɜːkə /

noun

1. a person or thing that works, usually at a specific job

   a good worker

   a research worker

2. an employee in an organization, as opposed to an employer or manager

3. a manual labourer or other employee working in a manufacturing or other industry

4. any other member of the working class

5. a sterile female member of a colony of bees, ants, or wasps that forages for food, cares for the larvae, etc

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Other Word Forms

• nonworker noun
• subworker noun
• workerless adjective

Etymology

Origin of worker

First recorded in 1300–50, worker is from the Middle English word werker, worcher. See work, -er ¹

Example Sentences

The UK government said it would do everything to support the workers and communities affected.

From BBC

Monday's bin collections have been called off as agency workers joined refuse strikers on picket lines in Birmingham amid a separate dispute.

From BBC

Hristo Paskalidis, a retired bazaar worker from Istanbul, said he would like more representation for Greek Orthodox Christians in government jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal

Today he works for a skilled-trade union that is deploying two dozen workers to the site, and he hails the reopening as a “blessing.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“Or do we want to be a party that is leading the vanguard to protect workers and to fight for working families?”

From Salon

Related Words

• employee
• laborer
• staff