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.

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verb

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

Other Word Forms

• de-employed
  adjective
• well-employed
  adjective

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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

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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

At the time Poundland had more than 800 stores across the UK and Ireland and employed around 16,000 staff.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Most investors are looking for a “get-rich-quick strategy,” and the asset-management industry is inherently short-term, when what’s needed is a longer-term vision for companies, such as that employed by legendary investor Warren Buffett, he said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

Equinix said its centre outside Johannesburg had employed around 750 people during construction but now had 26 permanent staffers.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

Microsoft employed 223,000 employees as of the end of June.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

"I found that the majority of the workers employed at all plants were either prisoners of war or German military prisoners or Russians," Dasch said.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

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Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied

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