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blue-collar

American  
[bloo-kol-er] / ˈbluˈkɒl ər /

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 British  

adjective

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

    a blue-collar union
"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
blue-collar Cultural  

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

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The term is often associated with conservative values.

Etymology

Origin of blue-collar

First recorded in 1945–50

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

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.

In January, he published a profile of a 23-year-old electrician who skipped college to be a part of “Gen Z’s blue-collar revolution.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

The lunchtime crowd — high schoolers, blue-collar types, the elderly — waited patiently for their orders.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

Certain blue-collar jobs have seemed fairly susceptible to AI disruption as well, with robots already playing a role in things like factory and warehouse automation.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

The firm sends thousands of blue-collar workers overseas each year in search of regular, better paid work.

From Barron's • Mar. 8, 2026

And the not-so-cute blue-collar guy, who’s lugging a metal beam on his back, answers: He’d fire me, that’s what.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.