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child labor

American  

noun

  1. the gainful employment of children below an age determined by law or custom.


Etymology

Origin of child labor

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Local human-rights groups have tied excessive microfinance debt to suicides, migration, child labor and decreased food consumption.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

It was a reaction to corporate abuses and corrupt governance and horrific things like child labor and environmental destruction.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026

His goal, Donaldson has said, is to eventually get 100% of his cocoa from fair-labor cocoa farms and eliminate child labor in the cocoa industry.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 3, 2026

But records obtained under the California Public Records Act for that period show that only a small number of child labor enforcement actions involved the agricultural industry.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

The families of weaver ants engage in child labor, holding their larvae like shuttles to spin out the thread that sews the leaves together for their fungus gardens.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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