child labor
Americannoun
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.
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
Congress prohibited child labor under age 14 in 1916.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
Inspectors from the Santa Barbara office of the Bureau of Field Enforcement are responsible for regulating child labor and wage and hour laws in the 2,700-square-mile county, where more than 600 agricultural businesses operate.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 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
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.
