real wages

[ ree-uhl, reel ]
See synonyms for real wages on Thesaurus.com
plural nounEconomics.
  1. wages estimated not in money but in purchasing power.

Origin of real wages

1
First recorded in 1880–85

Words Nearby real wages

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use real wages in a sentence

  • Now, we shall see that it is requisite to distinguish between money wages and real wages.

    Political economy | W. Stanley Jevons
  • In order to establish any rational basis, the relation must be between real wages or standard of living and efficiency.

    The Evolution of Modern Capitalism | John Atkinson Hobson
  • Two centimes daily are, however, deducted for messing, so that the real wages are five centimes per diem.

    In the Foreign Legion | Erwin Rosen

British Dictionary definitions for real wages

real wages

pl n
  1. economics wages evaluated with reference to their purchasing power rather than to the money actually paid: Compare money wages

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for real wages

real wages

Wages adjusted for the prevailing level of consumer prices. (See also constant dollars.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.