Showing results for "employed"

• past tense form of employ.
• past participle of employ.

employed

American  

[em-ploid] / ɛmˈplɔɪd /

adjective

1. given employment, or paid work; hired, especially permanently by inclusion on a payroll.

   The comedy revolves around a beauty salon owner and her newly employed male stylist.

2. applied or used; made use of.

   In the study, drilling with flashcards was the least frequently employed strategy for language learning.

3. kept busy or engaged with some work or activity.

   I never feel usefully employed in science except when I'm actually gathering data.

4. (of time, energies, etc.) occupied; devoted to some pursuit.

   Working on my quilt gave me many happily employed hours.

---

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of employ.

Other Word Forms

• de-employed
  adjective
• well-employed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of employed

First recorded in 1560–70; employ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; employ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Explanation

Someone who's employed has a job or is busy with something. Some people believe that employed teenagers get themselves in less trouble than those without jobs. If you're working, you're employed. Most employed people work traditional full-time jobs, although an increasing number of them are freelancers or have part-time positions. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "used," as when you say, "The employed methods for keeping the classroom calm seem a little extreme to me." The adjective employed comes from the related verb, employ, "use, apply, occupy, or hire."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

employed

Artificial intelligence cams are now employed to catch bike lane violators in Santa Monica.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

So if you’re in that range, it would be helpful to specify to your audience whether you are employed, because it would greatly change the dynamics.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

But as she employed them, they became perennial sources for multiple emerging genres.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

The sector, which employed nearly 400,000 people at the end of the communist era, now has a total workforce numbering only 70,000.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

“Your uncle Charley’s father and grandfather were custodians at Riverview. ‘Someone employed to clean and maintain a building’ is only the second definition of that word.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied