worker

[ wur-ker ]
See synonyms for worker on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person or thing that works.

  2. a laborer or employee: steel workers.

  1. a person engaged in a particular field, activity, or cause: a worker in psychological research; a worker for the Republican Party.

  2. Entomology.

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

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

  3. Printing. one of a set of electrotyped plates used to print from (contrasted with molder2).

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

Origin of worker

1
First recorded in 1300–50, worker is from the Middle English word werker, worcher. See work, -er1

Other words from worker

  • non·work·er, noun
  • sub·work·er, noun

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

How to use worker in a sentence

  • Each new invention threw thousands of hand-workers out of employment.

  • By their leathern aprons and the hammers which hung from their belts one could see that they were workers in metals.

    Honey-Bee | Anatole France
  • When the children arrived at the McAllister orchard they soon saw that they were not the only workers.

    The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • But the People, the workers of America, have joyously acclaimed the rebellious manhood of Homestead.

    Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman
  • With smooth words the great philanthropist had persuaded the workers to indorse the high tariff.

    Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman

British Dictionary definitions for worker

worker

/ (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

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

  2. any other member of the working class

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

Derived forms of worker

  • workerless, adjective

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