employ

[em-ploi]

verb (used with object)

1. to hire or engage the services of (a person or persons); provide employment for; have or keep in one's service.

   This factory employs thousands of people.

2. to make use of (an instrument, means, etc.); use; apply.

   We employ objective and scientific methods to analyze all management areas.

3. to keep busy or at work; engage the attentions of.

   He employs himself by reading after work.

4. to occupy or devote (time, energies, etc.).

   I employ my spare time in reading. I employ all my energies in writing.

noun

1. employment; service.

   to be in someone's employ.

employ

/ ɪmˈplɔɪ /

verb

1. to engage or make use of the services of (a person) in return for money; hire

2. to provide work or occupation for; keep busy; occupy

   collecting stamps employs a lot of his time

3. to use as a means

   to employ secret measures to get one's ends

noun

1. the state of being employed (esp in the phrase in someone's employ )

Other Word Forms

• employable adjective
• employability noun
• nonemploying adjective
• overemploy verb (used with object)
• preemploy verb (used with object)
• reemploy verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of employ¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English employen, from Anglo-French, Middle French emploier, ultimately derived from Latin implicāre “to enfold” ( Late Latin: “to engage”); implicate

Word History and Origins

Origin of employ¹

C15: from Old French emploier, from Latin implicāre to entangle, engage, from plicāre to fold

Example Sentences

“Firms are probably being super careful about whether they are going to report anybody as employed that they think maybe they shouldn’t be reporting as employed.”

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"By employing a gene editing toolkit, we can now focus on further improving this trait for enhancing wheat yield. This discovery provides an exciting route to develop cost-effective hybrid wheat."

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With around 1,200 employees, Provalus is dwarfed by those outsourcing giants, which each employ hundreds of thousands of workers, mostly in India but also the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico and other lower-cost countries.

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The industry employs some 15 million people — or nearly 1 in 10 workers — but new jobs have hardly grown this year.

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The job-opening rate is determined by comparing the number of open jobs against the number of people who are already employed.

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Related Words

• apply 
• engage 
• exploit 
• handle 
• occupy 
• operate 
• spend 
• use 
• utilize 

When To Use

What does employ mean?

To employ someone is to pay them to work. An employer employs employees.The state of being employed is employment.A more specific use of employ is as a noun meaning employment or service. This sense of the word is almost always used in phrases like in their employ. Employ also means to use, as in This task will require you to employ a different skill set.Less commonly, employ can mean to keep one busy or occupy one, as in During flights I usually employ myself with some knitting. Example: My company employs more than 500 people.