white-collar

American  

[hwahyt-kol-er, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˈkɒl ər, ˈwaɪt- /

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the ranks of office and professional workers whose jobs generally do not involve manual labor or the wearing of a uniform or work clothes.

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noun

1. a white-collar worker.

white-collar British  

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating nonmanual and usually salaried workers employed in professional and clerical occupations Compare blue-collar pink-collar

   white-collar union

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white-collar Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for office workers, who use a minimum of physical exertion, as opposed to blue-collar laborers. Managerial, clerical, and sales jobs are common white-collar occupations.

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Etymology

Origin of white-collar

First recorded in 1920–25

Compare meaning

How does white-collar compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• blue-collar vs. white-collar

Example Sentences

In the UK, where services account for around 80 percent of the economy, AI has become flexible, fast and inexpensive competition for many white-collar workers, with the impacts beginning to emerge.

From Barron's • May 27, 2026

Bigalk said she has become more pessimistic about the future of white-collar fields like education, and told her 18-year-old son to focus on careers that won’t soon be obsolete.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

Last year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted External link that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs within five years.

From Barron's • May 21, 2026

Wardley, who rose from the white-collar boxing scene to world champion inside 10 years, lost for the first time as a professional.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

The term, “relocation” abbreviated, was used as noun and verb to describe the nomadic lives of white-collar families employed by global companies.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Related Words

• clerical
• salaried