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definitions

blue-collar

[bloo-kol-er]
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adjective

of or relating to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or other specialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen, and miners.Compare white-collar.

noun

a blue-collar worker.

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RELATED WORDS

proletarian, middle-class, proletariat, lower-class

Nearby words

  1. blue-arsed fly,
  2. blue-black,
  3. blue-blooded,
  4. blue-breasted quail,
  5. blue-chip,
  6. blue-curls,
  7. blue-eyed,
  8. blue-eyed boy,
  9. blue-eyed grass,
  10. blue-eyed mary

Origin of blue-collar

First recorded in 1945–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for blue-collar

British Dictionary definitions for blue-collar

blue-collar

adjective

of, relating to, or designating manual industrial workersa blue-collar union Compare white-collar, pink-collar
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
Culture definitions for blue-collar

blue-collar

A descriptive term widely used for manual laborers, as opposed to white-collar for office workers.

Note

The term is often associated with conservative values.
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.