employ
Americanverb (used with object)
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employs,
present (3rd person singular)
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employed,
past participle, past
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employing
present participle
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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.
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to make use of (an instrument, means, etc.); use; apply.
We employ objective and scientific methods to analyze all management areas.
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to keep busy or at work; engage the attentions of.
He employs himself by reading after work.
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to occupy or devote (time, energies, etc.).
I employ my spare time in reading. I employ all my energies in writing.
noun
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employs
plural
verb
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to engage or make use of the services of (a person) in return for money; hire
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to provide work or occupation for; keep busy; occupy
collecting stamps employs a lot of his time
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to use as a means
to employ secret measures to get one's ends
noun
Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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employabilitynoun
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overemployverb (used with object)
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preemployverb (used with object)
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reemployverb (used with object)
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employableadjective
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nonemployingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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employsimple
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employssimple
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have employedperfect
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has employedperfect
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am employingprogressive
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are employingprogressive
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is employingprogressive
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have been employingperfect progressive
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has been employingperfect progressive
Past
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employedsimple
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had employedperfect
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was employingprogressive
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were employingprogressive
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had been employingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of employ
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”); see implicate
Explanation
To employ means to use something or hire someone to work. You can employ a saw to cut a board or employ a tutor to teach you math. You can even employ your talents in study and activities. The Latin source of employ is the word implicāre, which literally means to enfold or be connected with. This ties in with the verb employ, which is transitive and needs a direct object. (You can't just say "I will employ — you have to employ something.) The word also suggests using something for a specific purpose: you can employ someone for a job or find something in which to employ your own interests.
Vocabulary lists containing employ
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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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.
See Examples For:
While health and social care roles employ many of the Africans, job opportunities for those born locally, and refugees, can be hard to find.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
And, yes, it does cheekily employ its own famous masthead as part of the very special effect.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Mamdani threw his support behind a City Council bill that would require the company to employ last-mile drivers directly rather than use subcontractors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Newer cars and trucks employ opposite frequency technology, which lowers road noise, silicone-based coating on door seals that cuts virtually all high-frequency whistling, and noise-dampening designs on windows, to name a few technologies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Like his father, John Adams, the sixth president did not employ enslaved people in the White House.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Meta employs about 1,500 people in Ireland, with Dublin home to its international headquarters.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
At Paul Wissmach Glass Co., which employs 35 people in Paden City, W.Va., co-owner Jason Wilburn said he has been hit by double-digit premium increases each year since his family bought the company in 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Faith blossoms as Annie comes to understand Xavier’s driving need to reunite with his spouse, and the loving father of two employs a bag of flour to teach her swaddling lessons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Ford employs more factory workers and assembles more cars in the U.S. than any of its competitors; some 80% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. are built there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Straddling the border of France and Switzerland, it employs three thousand people and occupies a site that is measured in square miles.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Few, perhaps, would have employed the same tactics Cohen used.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
More recently, the computer manufacturer IBM employed more than 5,000 people at its campus near Greenock.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Casias, 54, was employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory — where the first atomic bomb was developed and where nuclear weapons work continues — when she disappeared.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
It has employed three or four generations of some families.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 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
Those who trust these writers’ capabilities with using comic book properties as springboards to examine thornier issues can probably deduce that “Lanterns” is employing it for a specific reason.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
The Long Beach Police Department also installed the Rumbler into patrol vehicles in 2009, employing the system in most units until 2023.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Hartzmark’s research shows that funds employing aggressive yield strategies attract heavy inflows despite delivering lower total returns, higher turnover and inflated fees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“I learned that the Marines are capable of employing those drones against simulated enemy targets,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Bribes perhaps, or a rumor that any inn employing a certain red-haired musician would be losing the business of a large number of wealthy noble customers.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
