blue-collar

[bloo-kol-er]

adjective

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

noun

1. a blue-collar worker.

blue-collar

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating manual industrial workers Compare white-collar pink-collar

   a blue-collar union

blue-collar

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

The term is often associated with conservative values.

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue-collar¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

The median Labour voter is pro-immigration, but Labour voters in crucial blue-collar swing districts are anti-immigration, says Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Immigrants do a lot of work, both blue-collar and white-collar, that can’t be replaced by technology.

Read more on Barron's

Blue Labour promotes blue-collar and culturally conservative values within the party – for example on immigration and crime – while remaining committed to left-wing economic policies.

Read more on BBC

When he and his siblings — all named after blue-collar jobs — arrived in late July, they were timid.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But once companies develop products based on all that innovation, they’ve tended to move the manufacturing, with its high paying blue-collar jobs, elsewhere, chasing fewer regulations, cheaper energy and a less expensive cost of living.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• apprentice 
• blue-collar worker www.thesaurus.com